Standard of Liberty is a Christ-based foundation which exists to raise awareness
of
cultural and institutional licentiousness overrunning America and to provide motivation to restore God's essential sexual boundaries
thereby
protecting the young, preserving true marriage and family, ensuring religious freedom, and preserving civilized society.Please note: We value all people as precious children of God. Our view of sex and sexuality is based on timeless true principles.
We promote hope and help in preventing, rooting out, and repairing wayward sexuality.
Read our open letter and The Only Good Choice.

In this column, we feature questions and answers dealing with gender and sexual identity problems. Dr. Dan is a Christian. He is a medical/social scientist and a licensed mental health professional.Submit questions by sending an email to Dr.Dan@standardofliberty.org. SoL may edit questions and will respect anonymity.

Click hereto read Dr. Dan's answers to these questions: What causes homosexual attraction? Is it possible to change from homosexuality?
We are concerned parents of a young man in his twenties who has told us he is gay and is probably acting out. What should we do? How should we respond?

Stephen and Janice Graham of SoL were interviewed by PFOX for a video series of stories of parents who have success stories of children overcoming homosexuality. The Graham's were in four short videos, ranging from 1 to 8 minutes duration. Watch PFOX video: "A parent's story." Watch PFOX video: "What to do in the beginning." Watch PFOX video: "Don't despair when it's not easy." Watch PFOX video: "Your family can be a support." Go to the PFOX website.7/21/2014

SoL was featured in the PFOX winter and spring Newsletters. Read part 1 and part 2. 5/8/2014

Perfectly formed baby miscarried at 19 weeks causing people to rethink support for abortion. Read the Live Action News. 3/11/2015

How did the Mormon church get to the point of supporting special rights for practisers of homosexual behavior (sodomy)? Read the LA Times article about more than 5 years of secret meetings between Mormon and LGBT leaders. 3/11/2015

Boxer Evander Holyfield stated his opposition to homosexuality on a UK tv show, saying it can be overcome and that it is not normal. Producers of the show chastised him for speaking the truth, saying the show "does not tolerate the use of offensive language." Read The Blaze article. 1/8/2014

Mormon gay support group, Evergreen, shuts down. Taken over by unreliable, unhelpful, potentially harmful North Star, led by self-identified gay Mormon Ty Mansfield. Read the Salt Lake Tribune article about going from bad to worse in the Mormon gay problem. 1/4/2014

Franklin Graham agrees homosexuality is a sin, and wants to warn that all will answer to God. Read the LifeSiteNews article. 1/3/2014

Unbelievable gay propaganda: "Top 10 misconceptions about anal sex." You won't believe how they justify and deny the harm of gay sex. Read the Cosmopolitan article. Now read the GLMA article "10 Things Gay Men Should Discuss With Their Healthcare Provider. By Gay doctors, it tells the truth about the dangers of homosexual sex. 1/3/2014

Surprise! Entertainment Weekly figures out that Christians are opposed to homosexuality because The Bible is opposed to homosex. Read the Political Outcasts article. 12/28/2013

Huffington Post for 'intergenerational' gay sex with teens. Shows these relationships are not about unselfish love; they're about spiciness, tension and promiscuity. Apparently this gay is admitting that he has to work hard at his same-sex attraction. And they've worked so hard at making us think it is so natural. Read the American Spectator article. Read the Huff. article. 12/28/2013

Obamacare uses gay Christmas video ad to get gays to sign up for health insurance. Watch the video on WND. 12/25/2013

Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty gets it right on homosexuality. Gay activists lose their minds, calling the truth he tells "vile." A&E suspends Robertson from the show. Read the CBS Houston article here and the Godfather Politics article here. Read the GQ article where he made the comments. Read the Fox News article. 12/18/2013

College schedules class on Intelligent Design. Atheit Darwinists have a fit. College quickly capitulates. When is anyone going to stand up to the opposition? Read the Evolution News article. 12/11/2013

Texas elem. school principal illegally bans "Christmas," trees, colors red and green at "winter party." Says she "doesn't want anyone to be offended by a stray bit of Christmas." No mention of offense to the vast majority who celebrate Christmas. Read the Godfather Politics article. 12/8/2013

Gays the victims? Not a chance. They're on the attack. Tolerance only goes one way. Gay bloggers call for murder and castration of Christians who disapprove of homosexuality. Read the Matt Barber article in WND. Click on the video link to see lesbians attacking men protecting a church. 12/8/2013

45-year-old transgender college "student" exposes himself to teen-aged and younger swim team girls in locker room at Evergreen in Olympia WA. Read the Daily Mail article. 12/2/2013

British B&B owners lose in court, accused of discrimination against homosexuals, not wanting to rent a room to unmarried people to share a bed. Fined, death threats, property vandalized, business closed. Read the One News Now article. 12/2/2013

Matthew Shepard, killed in 1998 for being 'gay?' No! New bio of Shepard by 'gay' journalist Stephen Jiminez says the murder was about drugs, and followed Shepard having 'gay' sex with the murderers. Read the NY Post article. 11/8/2013

Research that shows children raised in 'gay' households do just as well as those from proper households? Not so! Junk science. Read the Pubic Discourse article that looks into the flaws of such "science." 11/8/2013

Mormon 'gay' youth propaganda. A video of BYU students who blame the Church's non-acceptance of their homosexuality for their suicidal thoughts and attempts. The truth? People don't kill themselves over not being accepted. If so, there would be many more suicide attempts and completions. People who commit or attempt suicide are in serious need of professional help. Watch the USGA six-minute video. Read the Affirmation article. Read the article where the family says thesuicide was not about gay non-acceptance. 11/7/2013

Boy Scouts lost their way regarding homosexuals. They had a firm moral foundation in 1993. Read the BSA Discrimination article. Even though the article is against a moral foundation for the BSA, the quotes are informative. Also, don't miss the info about Baden Powell's sexuality. 10/30/2013

"Gay" pedophiles commit child sexual abuse at a dramatically higher rate (up to 20 times) than straight pedophiles. Read the Virtue Online article by Steve Baldwin, which also has statistics and sources of the info. 9/29/2013

Exellent homosexual question and answer broadcast with John MacArthur. Listen/read the Grace To You broadcast. 9/29/2013

Shocking: Parents plan to sexually abuse their children when born, and then do it. Read the Blaze article. Read the Orlando Sentinel article. Warning! Shocking story. Proceed with caution. 9/15/13

Really? Gay Mormons have their 32nd Affirmation conference? And football player Steve Young and his wife Barbara speak. Their message: Mormon "gays" chose to come to Earth at this time so they could be leaders in the fight for "love," and should be patient like Jesus while the Mormon Church "evolves" to acceptance of "gay" love. See the Fox13 video and read the SL Tribune article. Watch the video of Barb Young's talk. Watch the video of Steve Young's talk. 9/15/13

Christian sportscaster Craig James was hired by Fox Sports and then fired after one day, when it was noted that in 2012, while running for Senate, he stated he did not support "gay" marriage. Fired for his personal religious beliefs. Read Michael Brown's Charisma News article. Read Tony Perkins's Charisma News article. 9/12/2013

Hawaii to become the next state to accept "gay marriage?" Read the OneNewsNow article. 9/11/2013

"Gays'" stragety is total dominance, not peaceful co-existence. Read the one news now article, quoting Mat Staver. 9/9/2013

Supreme Court ruling against marriage wasn't as bad as it could have been? Some have said that. But, now 17 states have legal challenges against constitutional marriage amendments. Read the Citizen Link article. 9/8/2013

Ex-gay gospel singer was disinvited to perform at MLK march and concert by DC mayor because he's ex-gay, and homosexual activists objected. Read the One News Now article, which quotes PFOX President Greg Quinlan. 8/28/2013

"Gay" health not so gay. Homosexuals account for 80% of syphilis cases in study. Also, 870% increase in syphilis cases among "gays" in the last decade. Read the Life Site News article. 6/11/2013

Federal govt. drops its opposition to a judge's ruling that females of all ages be able to buy the "morning after" birth control pill over the counter without a prescription. Read the L.A. Times article. 6/11/2013

CA boys will be able to choose to be on any girls' team and use the girls' locker room at high school with bill about to pass CA legislature. Same goes for girls on boys' teams and locker rooms. Read the One News Now article. 6/10/2013

Gay activists enter BSA headquarters one day after the disastrous vote to accept open and avowed "gays" as scouts, calling on the BSA to allow the same as adult leaders. Read the Christian Post article. 5/26/2013

In DOJ, silence on homoseuality will be treated as disaproval. Read the Matt Barber article. 5/24/2013

Planned Parenthood provides stuff for our kids. American Life League prepared a full page ad showing some of what PP gives our kids. It was rejected by New York Times and Washington Post for being "too graphic" and "shocking" for the papers' adult readers. Want to see what PP is showing your kids? Click here to see the ALL ad. 4/29/2013

Sad news . . . Mormon Church approves of BSA's misguided, capitulating proposal to allow openly gay scouts, while Family Research Council, Baptist Church and On My Honor.net stand against it. National gay organizations, like HRC, applaud the Mormon Church's stand, saying it marks a big moment for a religion with a reputation of standing adamantly against homosexuality. Read the Washington Times article, which contains quotes from Mormon spokesman. Read the official Mormon Church statement. 4/29/2013

Planned Parenthood and the federal government work together to indoctrinate our kids about sex, beginning in kindergarten. They have a very perverse concept of what constitutes abstinence. Read the Washington Times article. 3/29/2013

LDS counselor at BYU gives in to homosexual ideology. Helps LDS "gays" find a "sense of belonging" in the Church, without ever discussing the need for change, repentance, or overcoming. Read the Mormon Women article. 3/19/2013

Sen. Portman's son comes out as gay, so he abandons God's Word and moral principles? Read the Red State article. Read Sen. Portman's statement where he gives away eternal principles for worldly approval. 3/15/2013

Boy Scouts send out questionnaire to see what the rank and file think about gays in the Scouts. Read the Wall Street Journal Article. 3/15/2013

What does the new Mormons and Gays website represent to Mormon gays? Read the Washington Post guest article. One thing they say the website says, which SoL disagrees with -- "sexuality is not a choice." Anyone who is troubled with homosexuality can overcome it if they truly desire it. It may not be easy or quick, but it can be done. 3/3/2013

Want a perfect example of thinking the Church should change its doctrine to fit the world, rather than a "gay" man making changes in his mind and heart to fit the Gospel? Read or hear the California Report article, "A Church Divided: Growing up Gay and Mormon." 2/21/2013

Gay activist org. HRC founder arrested for possession and distribution of child pornograpy. Read the SF Gate article. Read the Bay Area Reporter article. WARNING! Graphic and offensive language and descriptions are used in the articles. 2/7/2013

PFOX weighs in on the Boy Scouts potential move to accept "gays." Read the article on the PFOX website. Read the Boy Scouts' Form 990 to see what top execcutives are paid. Approaches $1,000,000 for the top man. 2/4/13

30+-year veteran of Scouts vows to quit his leadership position if BSA votes to accept homosexuality. Has your church or group made the same public annnouncement? The Mormon church, largest BSA sponsor, refuses to take a stand until after they see what the BSA votes to do. Same for the Catholic Church. SoL believes a public statement of support for BSA's historical position by the Mormon and Catholic churches would be very helpful. Read the WND article. Sign the WND petition to the BSA urging them not to give in to "gay" activist pressure. 2/4/2013

"Homosexual" men 35 times more likely to get anal cancer. And it's on the rise among "gay" men. Read the Christian Medical article. 1/21/2013

Phony justification for "gay" sex amongst supposedly celibate Anglican Bishops. It exposes that many who claim a "gay" identity and say they are celibate are actually doing the "gay" sex, just lying about it.. Read the Guardian article. 1/20/2013

Man who does voice of Sesame Street character Elmo resigns after lawsuit is filed charging homosexual pedophilia. Read the USA Today article. Note that the news media never report it as homosexual, only as pedophelia. 11/27/2012

Planned Parenthood distributes more than 55,000 condoms with wrappers with codes to scan so college students can report where they had sex, and other info about themselves. Read the Blaze article. 11/8/2012

Teenagers made a video asking people to vote to conserve the U.S. Constitution, because they can't vote. Watch the "Voices Without A Vote" video. 11/3/2012

Survey shows children of "gay" relationships fare worse than those of traditional marriages. Read the Witherspoon article about the report. Read the Witherspoon article about survey author Mark Regnerus. 11/3/2012

Canadian superior court rules minister speaking against homosexuality is not a crime, after lower courts said it is. Read the WND article. 10/22/2012

British court orders Christian B&B owners to pay "gay" couple nearly $6000 for "hurting their feelings" by not renting them a room. Read the WND article. 10/21/2012

Australian schools to teach the evils of male/female relationships being considered the norm. Read the Mercator.net article. 10/17/2012

OK for boys in the girls restroom! Aurora Illinois school district allows transgender students to use locker rooms and restrooms of the sex they "identify" with. Read the Beacon News article. 10/16/2012

University professor suspended for being in favor of traditional marriage. Read the Washington Post Article. 10/13/2012

Tolerance should not be a one-way street. It requires reciprocity on the part of the person or thing being tolerated. Anthony Esolen has written an article an excellent and thoughtful discussion we highly recommend. Read the Public Discourse article. 9/24/2012

Men and women are different! So says research on personality and psychological differrences between the sexes. Read the Family in America blog post "Cardinal Feminist Claim Debunked." It is about halfway down the column of posts. 9/25/2012

Seriously? Salt Lake City's KSL-TV execs sit down with "gay" leaders to justify its not airing "The New Normal," NBC's new sitcom featuring a "gay" family. Legitimizing "gay" organizations by meeting with them, KSL denied that the "gay" characters had anything to to with the ban. The "gay" groups say the most important thing was that KSL was willing to meet with them. Read the Deseret News article. 9/2/2012

NBC's new sitcom "The New Normal" is about a gay couple who hires a surrogate to have a baby for them. Read about it and what you can to to protest this gay indoctrination. Read the One Million Moms article. 7/31/2012

Please support Chick Fil-A by patronizing their stores. They are under fire for standing for traditional sexual values, specifically against so-called "gay marriage." One CA city is even considering refusing to allow Chick Fil-A to open a store there. Read the Baptist Press article. Some gay activsts are calling for a boycott of Chick Fil-A. 7/20/2012

Boy Scouts reaffirm support for traditional values by keeping policy to not have gay men be scout leaders. Read the Fox News article. 7/20/2012

Child sexual abuse of a 6-year-old boy who stars in a rap video. Read the Gawker.com article. 7/20/2012

More LDS/gay support from former Bishop. Read the Advocate article, where he says "Queer Eye" TV show changed his mind. 7/20/2012

Gay-affirming San Francisco Mormon Bishop's letter printed in Salt Lake City paper, pushing new gay propaganda pamphlet designed to teach parents how to "accept" their gay children. Pamphlet starts with false premise: That homosexuality can't be changed. Read the SL Tribune OpEd. 7/5/012

Planned Parenthood distributes to college students 55,000 condoms with bar codes to scan so users can report their sexual activities. Read the Life News article. 7/5/2012

How many gay people are there in the USA? Fewer than you may think. Read The Atlantic article. 6/25/2012

New pro-gay survey says gay teens are less likely to be happy. Read the LA Times article. SoL says they don't need to be unhappy. They can change. Read the article listed below. 6/25/2012

Can gays change? Yes! says former APA president Nicholas Cummings. Read The New American article. 6/25/2012

More misled Mormons march in gay parades around the USA. Read the Religion Dispatches article. Also in the article is a letter of a mother emblematic of the conditioning people are giving in to regarding acceptance of homosexuality. 6/25/2012

SoL is constantly being reminded that we're not supposed to judge. Actually, we are to judge with the Spirit of Christ right vs wrong, good vs evil, beneficial vs harmful, etc., and all with Jesus' approval. We don't judge people, but we judge principles, ideas, practices. Here and here are talks which help. 6/25/2012

Free condoms for CA kids as young as 12. Read the Fox News report about how our tax dollars are funding this CA Health Dept. program. Look into the unbelievable Teensource website kids are referred to for the condoms and weekly "Sex Tips," incl. a Planned Parenthood- sponsored video showing graphic comparisons in size and appearance of breasts and genitalia which assures kids that "different is normal," so don't be turned off or shy!! SoL says this information is worthless unless it is to promote all manner of teen sexual promiscuity. Nobody ever needs this hypersexed information. 2/25/12

A Christian psych student was kicked out of the university program for not being willing to affirm a client's homosexuality. She sued, and the district court agreed with the university. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed that decision in favor of the student. Read the OneNewsNow article. 1/27/2012

Is there a trend in some LDS wards and stakes to embrace homosexuality as normal? Read the Salt Lake Tribune article. We checked out this "gay Mormon's" blog. He's pushing a project for LDS parents to accept homosexuality in their young children, no questions asked. They cannot seem to stay away from children. 8/31/2011

CA Governor Jerry Brown signs bill requiring all public school children be taught unit on LGBT history. First of its kind in U.S. Gay-straight clubs exist in 55% of CA high schools. Read the SaveCalifornia.com article. 7/14/2011.

In May, 2011, the Presbyterian Church USA joined the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in allowing the ordination of homosexual clergy. afajournal.org

Same-Sex Marriage Judge Finds That a Child Has Neither a Need Nor a Right to a Mother. Read the CNSnews report. For a good information on the need for real parents, read Dr. Dean Byrd's paper on Gender Complementarity. 8/11/2010

Planned Parenthood has prepared a booklet aimed at young people with HIV ancouraging them to continue sexual activity. It was distributed to Girl Scouts and a United Nations conference. Read the booklet. Read the WND article. 3/20/2010

Christians forbidden to hold church meetings in private home. Gilbert AZ ordinance allows other group meetings in home, but singles out religious meetings. 7-member church not allowed to meet. Read the WND article. 3/15/2010

Three Threatening DangersElder Ezra Taft Bensonof the Council of the Twelve Apostles

Ezra Taft Benson,Conference Report, October 1964, pp. 56-60

Some years ago President Joseph F. Smith, a prophet of the Lord, warned that "There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within" (Gospel Doctrine, p. 312). He also counseled the Authorities of the Church to warn the people unceasingly against them.

These dangers are:

Flattery of prominent men in the world,
False educational ideas,
Sexual impurity.

I should like to comment briefly on these three dangers.

Flattery

First,the flattery of prominent men in the world:

The Master warned, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you!" (Luke 6:26).

As Latter-day Saints we have been driven, mobbed, misunderstood, and maligned. We have been a peculiar people. Now we are faced with world applause. It has been a welcome change, but can we stand acceptance? Can we meet the danger of applause? In the hour of a man's success applause can be his greatest danger.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with being honored by men, if one is being honored for a good thing, if one comes to these honors through righteous living, and if, while holding these honors, one lives honorably. One should strive to have wide influence for good.

However, virtue is not the only basis for being singled out and promoted. As the world gets more wicked, a possible way to attain worldly success may be to join the wicked. The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine—all of their doctrine, including the more weighty principles such as the principle of freedom. Opposition to this weighty principle of freedom caused many of our brothers and sisters in the pre-existence to lose their first estate in the war in heaven.

We are far removed from the days of our forefathers who were persecuted for their peculiar beliefs. Some of us seem to want to share their reward but are ofttimes afraid to stand up for principles that are controversial in our generation. We need not solicit persecution, but neither should we remain silent in the presence of overwhelming evils, for this makes cowards of men. We should not go out of the path of duty to pick up a cross there is no need to bear, but neither should we sidestep a cross that clearly lies within the path of duty.

We are in the world, and I fear some of us are getting too much like the world. Rather than continue a peculiar people, some are priding themselves on how much they are like everybody else, when the world is getting more wicked. The Lord, as he prayed for his Apostles, said, ". . . the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:14). As Latter-day Saints, we too have been called out of the world.

Some things are changeless—priceless. We must anchor ourselves to the eternal verities of life, for life is eternal. The honors of men more often than not are fleeting. Anxious to run after the honors of office or succumb to the pressures of public glamour and worldly acclaim, some of us are no longer willing to stand up for all the principles of the gospel. We seek to justify our unrighteousness by claiming that if only we can get title or position, then think of the good we can do. Hence we lose our salvation en route to those honors. We sometimes look among our numbers to find one to whom we can point who agrees with us, so we can have company to justify our apostasy. We rationalize by saying that some day the church doctrine will catch up with our way of thinking.

Seeking the applause of the world, we like to be honored by the men the world honors. But therein lies real danger, for ofttimes, in order to receive those honors, we must join forces with and follow those same devilish influences and policies which brought some of those men to positions of prominence.

More and more the honors of this world are being promoted by the wicked for the wicked. We see this in publicity and awards that are given to movies, literature, art, journalism, etc. We see in our own newspapers widely read columnists carried who advocate one world socialism who have been consistently caught in falsehoods, and who continually parrot the communist line. Less and less we see the virtuous rewarded by the world, and when they are, ofttimes it almost seems to be done insidiously in order to get us to swallow the many evils for which the wicked are even more profusely honored.

Yes, President Joseph F. Smith was right. Today we are being plagued within by the flattery of prominent men in the world.

False Educational Ideas

Second,false educational ideas:

During the past several years many of our institutions of learning have been turning out an increasing number of students schooled in amorality, relativity, and atheism—students divested of a belief in God, without fixed moral principles or an understanding of our constitutional republic and our capitalistic, free enterprise economic system. This follows a pattern which was established years ago at some of our key colleges that produced many of the teachers and leaders in the educational field across the country today.

The fruits of this kind of teaching have been tragic, not only to the souls of the individuals involved but also to the parents and even to our country. We saw these tragic fruits with some of our boys in Korea.

When a survey was recently made among students asking which they would prefer, nuclear war or surrender to the communists, those campuses scored highest for surrender who had been most permeated by these cowardly teachings of false economic principles, atheism, and amorality. On one very liberal college campus over 90 percent favored surrender. Other surveys on moral standards are equally alarming. More disturbing is the fact that the more college courses the students take on these campuses, the worse their thinking seems to become. Freshmen who have just left home or work do not seem as fully permeated with the brainwashing as the seniors.

Some alumni of various schools have expressed concern. One alumnus from Yale wrote a book a few years ago entitledGod and Man at Yale. Another group (which includes Teddy Roosevelt's hero son Archibald) from Harvard University established the Veritas Foundation and wrote a book,Keynes at Harvard, explaining the degree to which the destructive Fabian economic philosophy has permeated educational institutions and government. Concerned educators have begun to write books. Professor E. Merrill Root authoredCollectivism on the CampusandBrainwashing in the High Schools. Dr. Max Rafferty, now state superintendent of schools in California, wroteSuffer Little ChildrenandWhat They Are Doing to Your Children.

In the school history textbooks of recent years, some of the greatest phrases in American history have been dropped.This Week Magazinerecently surveyed history books issued before 1920 and since 1920. Patrick Henry's famous words, "Give me liberty or give me death," appeared in twelve out of the fourteen earlier texts, but in only two out of the forty-five recent texts. Perhaps this might help explain the percentage of students who are willing to surrender to communism.

The whole process can be quite insidious. Young people know that the best jobs are available to college graduates. They want to do well at school. When exam time comes, they must give back to the teacher what the teacher wants. Now under the guise of academic freedom—which some apparently feel is freedom to destroy freedom—some teachers reserve to themselves the privilege of teaching error, destroying faith in God, debunking morality, and depreciating our free economic system. If questions reflecting the teacher's false teachings appear on the exam, how will the student answer who believes in God and morality and our Constitution? One student put on his exam paper what he knew the professor wanted to see, but then the student added a little p.s. which said, "Dear Professor So and So: I just want you to know I don't believe one word of what I just wrote above."

These kinds of professors are not concerned about the truth or even giving both sides of a question that only has one right answer. They weight the scales on the side of falsehood. If they can see there is another side, it usually gets but passing and belittling reference. To give the impression that they are objective, these professors often invite someone to present a different point of view in one lecture, while the professor spends the whole semester pointing out the other side.

Now truth, if given as much time and emphasis as error, will invariably prove itself. And if our young students could have as much time studying the truth as they and some of their professors have had time studying error, then there would be no question of the outcome. The problem arises when under the pressure of a heavy course of study and the necessity of parroting back what certain professors have said, the student does not have the time or take the time to learn the truth. If he does not learn the truth, some day he will suffer the consequences. Many an honest student, after graduation, has had to do some unlearning and then fresh learning of basic principles which never change and which he should have been taught initially.

Now these false educational ideas are prevalent in the world, and we have not entirely escaped them among teachers in our own system. There are a few teachers within the Church who while courting apostasy still want to remain members in the Church, for being members makes them more effective in misleading the Saints. But their day of judgment is coming, and when it does come, for some of them it would have been better, as the Savior said, that a millstone had been put around their necks and they had drowned in the depths of the sea (Matt. 18:6), than to have led away any of the youth of the Church.

The Lord has stated that his Church will never again be taken from the earth because of apostasy. But he has also stated that some members of his Church will fall away. There has been individual apostasy in the past, it is going on now, and there will be an even increasing amount in the future. While we cannot save all the flock from being deceived, we should, without compromising our doctrine, strive to save as many as we can. For as President Clark said, "We are in the midst of the greatest exhibition of propaganda that the world has ever seen."

Parents, stay close to your children; you cannot delegate your responsibility to the educators no matter how competent they may be. Parents have a duty to train their children, to talk over their problems with them, to discuss what they are learning at school. And it is neither wise nor safe, as President Stephen L Richards stated, to leave the determination of our educational system and policies exclusively to the professional educators.

Students, study the writings of the prophets. Fortunately, the consistent position taken over the years by the prophets of the Church on vital issues facing this nation have recently been compiled in an excellent book entitledProphets, Principles and National Survival[by Jerreld L. Newquist].

Students, pray for inspiration and knowledge. Counsel with your parents. Let Sunday be the day to fill up your spiritual batteries for the week by reading good church books, particularly the Book of Mormon. Take time to meditate. Don't let the philosophies and falsehoods of men throw you. Hold on to the iron rod. Learn to sift. Learn to discern error through the promptings of the Spirit and your study of the truth.

Yes, false educational ideas are a serious threat today.

Immorality

Third,sexual immorality:

Sexual immorality is a viper that is striking not only in the world, but in the Church today. Not to admit it is to be dangerously complacent or is like putting one's head in the sand. In the category of crimes, only murder and denying the Holy Ghost come ahead of illicit sexual relations (Alma 39:5), which we call fornication when it involves an unmarried person, or the graver sin of adultery when it involves one who is married. I know the laws of the land do not consider unchastity as serious as God does, nor punish as severely as God does, but that does not change its abominableness. In the eyes of God there is but one moral standard for men and women. In the eyes of God chastity will never be out of date.

The natural desire for men and women to be together is from God. But such association is bounded by his laws. Those things properly reserved for marriage, when taken within the bonds of marriage, are right and pleasing before God and fulfil the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth (Gen. 1:28). But those same things when taken outside the bonds of marriage are a curse.

No sin is causing the loss of the Spirit of the Lord among our people more today than sexual promiscuity. It is causing our people to stumble, damning their growth, darkening their spiritual powers, and making them subject to other sins.

Recently, a young man commented that if he quit reading books, watching TV, seeing movies, reading newspapers and magazines, and going to school, there was a chance he might live a clean life. And this explains, in large part, the extent to which this insidious evil has spread, for the world treats this sin flippantly. These evil forces build up your lust and then fail to tell of the tragic consequences. In so many movies the hero is permitted to get away with crime so long as he can joke about it, or explain he was powerless to do anything, or else at the close of the movie show forth one minimal virtue that is supposed to cover over the grossest of sin. Many of our prominent national magazines pander to the baser side, but then try to cover for themselves by including other articles, too.

So garbled in values have our morals become that some youth would not dare touch a cigarette but freely engage in petting. Both are wrong, but one is infinitely more serious than the other.

Parents should give their children specific instructions on chastity at an early age, both for their physical and moral protection. Years ago President David O. McKay, God bless him, read a statement written by Mrs. Wesley to her famous son John. I commend it to you as a basis for judgment pertaining to the matter of chastity. "Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure? Take this rule: Now note, whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself."

Avoid Pitfalls of Immorality

May I suggest some steps to avoid the pitfalls of immorality:

(1) Avoid late hours and weariness. The Lord said retire to your bed early (D&C 88:124), and there are good reasons for that. Some of the worst sins are committed after midnight by tired heads. Officers in the wards and stakes, branches and missions should not keep our people, especially our youth, up late at night even for wholesome recreation.

(2) Keep your dress modest. Short skirts are not pleasing to the Lord, but modesty is. Girls, do not be an enticement for your downfall because of your immodest and tight-fitting clothes.

(3) Have good associates or don't associate at all. Be careful in the selection of your friends. If in the presence of certain persons you are lifted to nobler heights, you are in good company. But if your friends or associates encourage base thoughts, then you had best leave them.

(4) Avoid necking and petting like a plague, for necking and petting is the concession which precedes the complete loss of virtue.

(5) Have a good physical outlet of some sport or exercise. Overcome evil with good. You can overcome many evil inclinations through good physical exertion and healthful activities. A healthy soul, free of the body-and-spirit-dulling influences of alcohol and tobacco, is in better condition to overthrow the devil.

(6) Think clean thoughts. Those who think clean thoughts do not do dirty deeds. You are not only responsible before God for your acts but also for controlling your thoughts. So live that you would not blush with shame if your thoughts and acts could be flashed on a screen in your church. The old adage is still true that you sow thoughts and you reap acts, you sow acts and you reap habits, you sow habits and you reap a character, and your character determines your eternal destiny. "As a man thinketh, so is he" (seeProv. 23:7).

(7) Pray. There is no temptation placed before you which you cannot shun. Do not allow yourself to get in positions where it is easy to fall. Listen to the promptings of the Spirit. If you are engaged in things where you do not feel you can pray and ask the Lord's blessings on what you are doing, then you are engaged in the wrong kind of activity.

Yes—avoid late hours; dress modestly; seek good associates; avoid necking and petting; have a good physical outlet; think good thoughts; pray.

May the Lord bless us as a people. We have taken upon us sacred covenants. We must be faithful. We are in the world, it is true, but we must not partake of the evils of the world. Let us be ever on guard against the flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Enter Jack Nicholson, playing the president of the United States in the movie Mars Attacks.
Tall and stately, in suit and tie, he addresses three little seemingly
harmless, green-blooded, big-headed, large-eyed Martian leaders who are
nevertheless in the process of successfully conquering the world. He
smiles his famous smile, reaches out his arms, digs deep for all the
charm, diplomacy, and fine words he can muster. He speaks slowly,
calmly, but with great feeling.

"Why are you doing this? Why? Isn't the universe big enough for both of us? HA-HA-HA-HA! What is wrong with you people? We could work together. Why be enemies? "Cause we're different? Is that why?"

The president steps confidently closer to the Martians, over a smoking human skeleton.

"Think of the things that we could do. Think how strong we would be. Earth. And Mars. There's nothing that we could not accomplish! Think about it. Why destroy when we could create? We can have it all. Or we can smash it all. Why can't we work out our differences? Why can't we work things out? Little people, why can't we all just get along?"

It's quite a speech. A big tear trickles down the head Martian's cheek.
He holds out his alien hand. He and the president shake. Immediately the
arm detaches from the Martian's body and crawls all over the president,
stabbing him in the back clear through his chest. He falls down dead.

"Ack," says the Martian.

Very funny in a dark comedy way. Also cautionary. "Why can't we all just
get along?" drawls Jack Nicholson, arrogant, condescending, and
incredibly naive in the face of a merciless and deadly enemy. Why can't
we all just get along? Here's why: because individuals and groups of
human beings often go wrong and create opposing viewpoints, views of the
world that contradict and cancel each other out, views that cannot
peacefully co-exist. For example, one view---arbitrary, permissive,
experimental, foundationless--- insists that it is essential that we
teach the normalization of things such as masturbation, homosexuality,
and fornication ("safe sex") in public schools, while the other
view---supported by God, science, history, and experience--- proclaims
that these things are licentious, immoral, risky, harmful, the teaching
of which to school children amounts to child abuse, that sex doesn't
belong in school, that as a society we should continue to uphold God's
rules for human sexuality and behavior for the health and well-being of
all.

Click here to read the rest of this post on the Standard of Liberty blog.

One way that 2014 was not unique compared to previous years
is that it brought further evidence of the destructiveness of homosexual
behavior. In May, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced
that such a high percentage of new syphilis cases are linked to
homosexuality-practicing males that it now considers syphilis
"predominantly an MSM [men who have sex with men] epidemic."

The health agency's May 9, 2014 Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR) [reprinted in PDF format HERE] found
that almost 84 percent of primary and secondary syphilis cases reported
in 2012 were among homosexual men (MSM)-up from 77 percent in 2009.

The report states (emphasis added):

"In 2012, primary and secondary syphilis cases in the 35
reporting areas that reported the sex of sex partners for [equal or
greater than] 70% of male cases comprised 83.7% (13,113) of all
nationwide cases. In those areas, the proportion of male primary
and secondary syphilis cases attributed to MSM [men who have sex with
men] increased from 77.0 (6,366) in 2009 to 83.9% (8,701) in 2012. Increases in incidence occurred among MSM of all ages and
races/ethnicities from all regions. The greatest percentage increases
occurred among Hispanics (53.4%, from 1,291 in 2009 to 1,980 in 2012)
and whites (38.1%, 2,449 to 3,381), when compared with blacks (21.2%,
2,267 to 2,747)…By age group, the greatest percentage increases occurred among MSM aged 25-29 (53.2%m 1,073 to 1,644)."

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the AFTAH website.

------------ Notable Quote:"For we dare not make ourselves of the number,
or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they
measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among
themselves, are not wise."
--2 Cor 10:12------------

A War Invetible Post
from SoL blog

Here at SoL we have been called extreme. So? What's wrong with the
extreme opposite view of evil? Nothing! It's essential! Such a view is
totally necessary, that is, unless you want to fall into the hands of
the various enemies of God and man.

We've been poring over some of the great documents of American history,
and man, these revolutionaries, the founders of our country, were certainly extreme. We wonder how our detractors, who are beneficiaries of the freest country in the world, feel about that?

I mean, Patrick Henry's 1775 "war inevitable speech," is not about
dialogue and concession and compromise. They were waaaaay past that. It
was a life or death situation for these people. That's how much they
loved truth and freedom! He said, "Give me liberty or give me death!"
and he meant it. I think America has too many insanely spoiled and
uneducated brats today. As such, few can comprehend the kind of
knowledge and conviction and passion and energy and sacrifice it took
to intellectually and physically revolt against tyranny and start an
entirely new method of human governance.

George Washington was a dyed-in-the-wool Christian (not a deist), and an
ardent lover of his new country because of what it stood for and
offered future generations. He knew Americans would have to be diligent,
anxious, and educated for it to succeed. He warned against "small but
artful and enterprising minorities." He said that experience is the surest standard and that religion and morality are indispensable supports. Oh boy. All of those things are in the
process of being flushed down the proverbial toilet--- THAT'S what's
extreme.

William Lloyd Garrison who published The Liberator was not a
fence sitter. When it came to important issues, he was a definite
extremist. He wanted an immediate end to slavery and didn't care what
anybody thought about him. "I am aware that many object to the severity
of my language, but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh
as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject I do not
wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man
whose house in on fire to give a moderate alarm; . . . tell the mother
to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has
fallen-but tell me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I
am in earnest-I will not equivocate-I will not excuse-I will not retreat
a single inch- and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough
to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the
resurrection of the dead." The Liberator, 1831.

Notable Quote: "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect will of God."-- Romans 12:2

------------

Tony The Tiger Gets His Gay StripesBy Gary DeMar

Latest
studies show that homosexuals make up about 1.5 percent of the
population. It's shocking how they control the media, the film industry,
the courts, and big-name companies. My theory has always been that it's
not that these companies support same-sex sexuality; it's that by
defining deviancy down, they can justify their own sexual appetites.

I
have not been able to figure out why some of the more traditional
companies have gone all-rainbow on US. Does Kellogg's and one of its
signature cereal brands Frosted Flakes really need to be pushing
same-sex sexuality? Who's running this company and what's its target
audience?

Kellogg's put their very visible support behind The Atlanta Gay Pride March. The company's ad reads as follows:

WEAR YOUR STRIPES WITH PRIDE

"At
Kellogg, we're an evolving culture that respects and accepts employees'
sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression so that all
employees can be authentic and fully engaged."

Does Kellogg's really expect to sell more Frosted Flakes to homosexuals? Where's the marketing upside?

I've
never understood the thing about "pride." Who takes pride in a
particular sexual practice that has a high incidence of disease?

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the Godfather Politics website.

------------

Notable Quote: "A society that is careless about getting fathers and mothers together
to raise their children in one loving family is causing enormous
heartache. To legalize marriage between two people of the same sex
would enshrine in the law the principle that mothers and fathers are
interchangeable or irrelevant, and that marriage is essentially an
institution about adults, not children; marriage would mean nothing
more than giving adults recognition and benefits in their most
significant relationship."--Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco in LifeSiteNews article.

------------

The Pursuit of Happiness and the Fatal Principle
from SoL blog

Our Declaration of Independence says that we have the right to life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But should people have a right to
pursue their personal idea of happiness by any and every means? Of
course not. Our society has all kinds of restrictions and outlaws a
number of behaviors such as rape, murder, stealing, etc. The writers of
the Declaration on which our country is founded meant that all people
have the right to pursue happiness by lawful and moral means.
It was written in a time when people were permanently divided and
oppressed according to unchangeable class or social status,
ruler-mandated religious denominations, and the like. Perhaps it's hard
for us complacent, multi-generational Americans to imagine such a time
when people did not enjoy such things as social mobility, property
ownership, and religious freedom. Evidently, it was a very big deal to
conceive of a such a nation as this was meant to be. The Founders
wanted a different sort of society where everyone was equally free to
pursue virtuous goals and worship God according to the dictates ofa moral conscience.

Jan Lewis in The Pursuit of Happiness, explains that in using this phrase America's Founders actually had in
mind not the fulfillment of the individual as we hear about today, but the fulfillment of family life as
the ultimate wished-for personal happiness. This included the freedom
to pass on one's moral/religious convictions to one's children and the
opportunity for property ownership (acres for a house, garden, animals,
pond, etc.) in order to independently provide for the spiritual and
physical needs of a growing family. In those days owning a house was not
considered for its own sake as a financial investment as it often is
today, but for the sake of long-term conjugal family security. At its core the Declaration was meant to proclaim the human
right to pursue the best safeguard against tyranny and the best chance
for human happiness possible here on earth: family life.

Increasingly, since the 1920s, the original meaning of the pursuit of
happiness has been redefined, even high-jacked, to include unlimited
sexuality, the opposite of virtuous family life. We've seen how
co-habitation, out-of wedlock pregnancy, divorce, abortion,
homosexuality and the like, have become de-stigmatized, then championed,
all in the name of individual freedom, fulfillment, or happiness.

Of course licentiousness does not bring happiness, only misery, but we
live in a blind and prideful society which values only itself and has
abandoned its responsibilities to both past and future generations.
Sexuality is now the one impulse that need not be bridled---except
perhaps where it is associated with marriage, ecclesiastical discipline,
and sex crimes, and even these restrictions are fast fading away. We
have rampant infidelity, open marriages, llegalized "gay marriage,"
churches softening and abandoning their doctrines, a growing gay clergy,
and new laws and policies, local, state, and federal, reflecting
ever-widening boundaries for all manner of sex and sexuality for all
ages.

In the 1940s C. S. Lewis, in his essay "We Have No 'Right' to Happiness,'" (God in the Dock)
discusses this societal trend, adding, "Our sexual impulses are thus
being put in a position of preposterous privilege. The sexual motive is
taken to condone all sorts of behaviour which, if it had any other end
in view, would be condemned as merciless, treacherous and unjust." He is
right. If our society did not embrace irresponsible sexual freedom as
happiness, but rather the pursuit of classic family life as happiness, a
"gay" man's abandonment of his wife and children, an adulterous woman's
convenience abortion, a public school teaching children that
homosexuality is normal and having a father who objects arrested, a
little boy being encouraged by the adults around him to dress and act as
a girl in preparation for hormones and surgeries that will further
confuse his mind and mutilate his healthy young body, and many other
behaviors, would not be condoned as they now are, but summarily
condemned as merciless, treacherous, and unjust.

Now that we have made the sexual impulse a "right," this fatal
principle, as Lewis calls it, "must sooner or later seep through our
whole lives. We thus advance toward a society in which not only each man
but every [unschooled and selfish] impulse in each man claims carte
blanche. And then . . . our civilization will have died at heart and
will . . . be swept away."

So much has happened which Lewis could hardly have imagined, but he
clearly saw the direction the world was headed. It's incredible to us at
SoL that even those with resources, influence, and obligation avoid
this topic like the plague. Many of our seemingly most moral and
conservative leaders no longer take a stand on issues of sexual
morality. They, quite irresponsibly, turn a blind eye to the tragic
consequences for a society bent on sex, sex, and more sex. As a result,
Lewis's prediction is coming true. To its detriment, as our society has
settled on pushing and celebrating unlimited sexuality it has had no
trouble pushing and celebrating every other preposterous entitlement men
arbitrarily claim from society as a right: a "right" to marriage, a
"right" to be a parent, a "right" to destroy the unborn, a "right" to
own a house, a "right" to have a job, a "right" to free health care, a
"right" for foreigners to break America's laws, and the list goes on. So
much for the sense of personal responsibility needed to pursue real
happiness.

Notable Quote: "All sins are equal and bring judgment in His kingdom. All men sin and
fall short of His glory. This the the reason for the Savior. Thank God
for the remedy - my sinfulness in itself would be reason for God to
give up on me, yet His mercy and faithfulness is everlasting."--David Lane in WND article.

Maybe He's Not Gay by Linda HarveyMy Darling from the Lions by Janice Barrett GrahamChased by an Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today's Stampeding Sexuality by Janice Barrett Graham (for LDS families with growing children) Wild Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today's Stampeding Sexualityby Janice Barrett Graham (for families from all Christian denominations with growing children)Me, Tarzan, You Janeby Janice Barrett Graham (for the youngest children)Captain of My Soul by Aaron S. GrantOut From Under, The Impact of Homosexual Parenting by Dawn StefanowiczLight in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change by Arthur GoldbergHomosexuality
and the Church of Jesus Christ: Understanding Homosexuality According
to the Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by A. Dean Byrd

If you or anyone you know is troubled with unwanted homosexuality, our website offers help and hope for those who truly desire to overcome it. On our website just click the Get Informed button.
You will find helpful resources there: articles, papers, books,
websites, videos. Be sure to read "The Only Good Choice," found at the
top of our Home Page.

Some people think the societal embrace of homosexuality is no big deal. They think it can be safely accommodated, that we can be inclusive of it, that it won't make much difference to anything we hold dear. Wrong. It's a very big deal. Whether or not it has hit you personally or not, it's a very big deal.

Make no mistake. When we make one group preferable, we denigrate the opposite group. Our society used to be against sexual immorality, including homosexuality, with laws forbidding it. In other words,sexual immorality used to be denigrated. Now, along with other bad behaviors, society has wholeheartedly accepted homosex with its blatant immorality, inordinate health and societal dangers, and total impotency. Besides the tragedy this brings to individuals, children, and families, the natural result on a societal scale is a denigration of its opposite. Society now denigrates normal decent sexual behaviors and has abandoned the most fundamental instinct of the human race, that is, to value its future posterity.

Yes, heterosexuality and everything that goes with it is now being harmed. We can see how this is happening what with intimidation and punishing of individuals and businesses that try to live and make a living according to the dictates of their conscience; the pressure on and persecution of religion and churches (mainly Christian); the rise of gay porn and gay businesses; the putting down of stay-at-home motherhood; the putting off or choice against marriage and children in favor of casual sex and self-centered money-making careers; the popularity of birth control and abortion; unwed mothers and fatherless children; government incentives for unwed mothering and children without fathers, fathers excused for abandoning their families in favor of gay sex; no-fault divorce laws; disrespect for the Biblical marriage institution; smaller families; pro-gay indoctrination in education systems, and the many various anti-human-race organizations and movements.

We're not saying total cultural decline will happen overnight. To borrow from Robert Bork who borrowed from Yeats, we are a nation slouching not towards Bethlehem but towards Gomorrah. For some time our society has been on the latter rather than the former path, and we know what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. Obviously, as a society we can't have it both ways. And our choice is being made.

Yes, homosex is now brave, cool, honest, laudable, while normal, moral heterosex and everything that the wisdom of the ages shows naturally goes with it (health, marriage, motherhood and fatherhood, big families, sacrifice) is quite out of style.How far we have come from when Mark Twain said, "Babies are national treasures." The way we carry on, having legalized the destruction of 60 million while celebrating totally sterile sexuality, it looks like we have substituted innocent unborn babies for a tiny percentage of people of the same sex who lust after each other. Apparently, and societally speaking, it's now gays who are the national treasure.

Again we quote George Orwell. "[A]ll societies, as the price of survival, have to insist on a fairly high standard of sexual morality." With all his warning vision, I don't think he never sawthiscoming.

------------
Notable Quote:"If someone seeking your help says to you, 'I am a homosexual,' or, 'I am lesbian,' or, 'I am gay,' correct this miscasting. Heavenly Father does not speak of his children this way and neither should we. It is simply not true. To speak this way seeds a doubt and deceit about who we really are."--Bishop Keith B. McMullen, 2010 Evergreen Conference------------

Syphilis is Predominantly a Homosexual Epidemic
by Peter LaBarbera

One way that 2014 wasnotunique compared to previous years is that it brought further evidence of the destructiveness of homosexual behavior. In May, the federalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) announced that such a high percentage of new syphilis cases are linked to homosexuality-practicing males that it now considers syphilis "predominantly an MSM [men who have sex with men] epidemic."

The health agency's May 9, 2014 Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report (MMWR)[reprinted in PDF format HERE] found that almost 84 percent of primary and secondary syphilis cases reported in 2012 were among homosexual men (MSM)-up from 77 percent in 2009.

The report states (emphasis added):

"In 2012, primary and secondary syphilis cases in the 35 reporting areas that reported the sex of sex partners for [equal or greater than] 70% of male cases comprised 83.7% (13,113) of all nationwide cases. In those areas,the proportion of male primary and secondary syphilis cases attributed to MSM [men who have sex with men] increased from 77.0 (6,366) in 2009 to 83.9% (8,701) in 2012.Increases in incidence occurred among MSM of all ages and races/ethnicities from all regions. The greatest percentage increases occurred among Hispanics (53.4%, from 1,291 in 2009 to 1,980 in 2012) and whites (38.1%, 2,449 to 3,381), when compared with blacks (21.2%, 2,267 to 2,747)...By age group, the greatest percentage increases occurred among MSM aged 25-29(53.2%m 1,073 to 1,644)."

In a separate section of theCDCMMWRreport(p. 405, in the blue text box), the authors write (emphasis added):

"What is already known on this topic?
Rates of reported primary and secondary syphilis in the United States have increased since reaching historic lows in 2000. Cases of primary and secondary syphilis increasingly are among males, particularly men who have sex with men (MSM).

"What is added by this report?
Primary and secondary syphilis rates increased among men of all ages and races/ethnicities during 2005-2013, from 5.1 cases per 100,000 population in 2005 to 9.8 in 2013, when men accounted for 91.1% of all cases reported in the United States. Although rates remain highest among black men (28.1), recent increases were greatest among Hispanic and white men.Currently, syphilis is predominantly an MSM epidemic."Click hereto read the remainder of this article on AFTAH website.

------------Notable Quote:"I used to gauge my success in battling Satan by how long I'd gone without looking at porn. What I now realize is that porn is the wrong standard. Lust is the more accurate standard. Where is the lust in my life and what am I doing to keep it out of my brain and my behavior? If LDS men would get educated and then get honest, I think a lot more of them would realize that they're in trouble because lust permeates their lives - even if they never look at computer porn."--Andrew Pipanne on rowboatandmarbles.org------------

Mormon U. Forces Gays to Be Celibateby Emily Shire

SoL note: Along the short road toward Godless worldliness, Mormons have begun to push acceptance of homosexuality in the guise of "celibacy," which word remains undefined in religious terms or otherwise. (For example, unrepentant homosexual lust itself, although technically celibate, is certainly impure and unholy, and leads to a variety of physical behaviors short of sodomy. But this fact is conveniently overlooked and the lusts apparently continue to be enflamed through all sorts of means such as pornography, chat rooms, phone sex, masturbation, oral sex, cross-dressing, activism, recruiting, etc. Ask your favorite unashamed but honest homosexual if this is not true.) Don't be deceived. There's no such thing as sexual purity in the Mormon SSA community, however wholesome they present themselves. The celibacy claim is a deceit and a ruse, and merely a step toward full-on cultural acceptance of the gay identity and the behaviors just as the world has done. Think about it. If these people are really celibate, which many straight people are, what reasons would they have for announcing their perverse and unnatural sexual proclivities? Celibate straight people don't identify themselves by their sexuality. There's only one reason for this public declaration: to push acceptance of all things homosex forward.

When Jimmy Hales came out, it was to an audience of nearly 600,000 people. In February 2013, he posted aYouTube videoto let the whole world know that he was out of the closet-and planning to remain celibate for the rest of his adult life. "It sucks," he admitted in the video, in a tone curiously cheerful and content for a college junior who had just sworn off sex forever. But for Hales, an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, his YouTube post was the gateway to peace of mind, his best attempt to be out and proud while remaining committed to the Mormon Church.

When I speak to Hales, now 26 and about to graduate from BYU, his voice radiates with the polite optimism that Mormons are known for. The upbeat pioneer spirit that is so valued in a community whose foundation was laid as Brigham Young led the faithful to Utah in the mid-19th century surges through Hales. It never fades, even as he talks about his decision to be completely celibate so he can still remain in good standing at BYU and, more importantly, within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

"Because this is something I didn't inflict," he catches himself for using a word that denotes pain and negativity, "not inflict-choose-I feel God will take care of me."

Though Hales's faith sustains him, he admits that it comes at a cost. Instead of celebrating his homosexuality, he sees it as a test of will, a Job-like experience imposed by the Almighty. "God allows hard, bad things to happen to good people all the time in history. There were wars. Righteous people are killed by evil people, not to compare homosexuality to being slain," he says. "I don't know why God allows it [homosexuality] to happen. I don't get mad. In my mind, it is nothing new."

By embracing celibacy, Hales is embarking upon one of the only sanctioned paths for LGBT students at BYU. The Mormon Church is known for its aggressive anti-homosexual views. (In)famously, it was acritical sourceof support for California's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage. At the annual LDS General Conference this year, Neil L. Andersen, an elder in the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, one of the top governing bodies in the Mormon Church,stressedthat "while many governments and well-meaning individuals have redefined marriage, the Lord has not."

As severe as this stance on same-sex marriage is, the fact that the Mormon community even recognizes gay members is a huge step forward.

Click hereto read the remainder of this article on the Daily Beast website.

------------

Notable Quote: "Confusion over sexual feelings is quite common among teens but it is usually a passing phase. The extensive National Health and Social Life Survey across the USA in 1994 found that some 8 percent of sixteen year olds identified as gay - but, significantly, the number halved within two years to just over 4 percent, and halved again by age 25 so that only 2.8 percent still thought they were gay. What that means is that most sexual confusion in adolescence - a full three-quarters in this study -- clears away if left to itself."--Dr. David van Gend in Mercatornet.com

------------

Homosexual Leader Arrested for Raping 15-year Old Boy
Homosexuals 16 times more likely to be child abusers than heterosexuals
by Matt Barber

Yet another high profile "gay" activist has been arrested for homosexual assault on a child. This time authorities caught one of the big fish (a rainbow trout?). Terrance Patrick Bean founded the "Human Rights Campaign" (HRC), which is one of the world's largest, wealthiest and most powerful anti-Christian organizations. To this day heremains on the board of directors. HRC was developed for the sole purpose of pushing the extremist homosexual political agenda. Bean is also a major player for the DNC and a big Obama supporter.

Bean, 66, a prominent gay rights activist and major Democratic Party fundraiser, was arrested at his home in Southwest Portland and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center at10:12 a.m.

The indictment charges Bean with two counts of third-degree sodomy, a felony, and one count of third-degree sex abuse, a misdemeanor, police said.

Bean, who bailed out of jail by late Wednesday afternoon, will be arraigned on the indictment in Lane County. ...

The alleged incident involved a sexual encounter in Eugene with a 15-year-old boy. ...

Click hereto read the remainder of this article on the BarbWire website.

------------

Notable Quote: "Undoubtedly and unfortunately, the normalization of deviancy and sexual anarchy is on the march. No longer can we afford to keep our heads buried in the sand regarding this egregious matter. We must without reserve expose this darkness of depravity to the light of God's truth and serious public scrutiny. Our children are in serious peril if we don't."--Dr. Michael Brown in Barb Wire

------------

Transmormon: Propaganda Video of Mormon Boy Pretending He's a Girl
Ed.: One example of how bad things have become

Notable Quote: "Once the sexual behavior of an individual breaks the containment of God's absolute moral standard, there is no limit to the depths of depravity to which one may sink. Homosexuality is no doubt one step along this perverse slippery slope.
'--Dr. Michael Brown in Barb Wire

------------

Men and Porn: 4-part Expose on Pornography
by the Art of Manliness website

Viewing porn, once considered a shameful pursuit to be carried on in society's shadows, has become more than mainstream; today it's considered a nearly universal part of every man's life. Watch any modern television show (particularly sitcoms), and it is nearly assumed that the main male characters watch porn, and in many cases it's practically celebrated (see Barney inHow I Met Your Mother). In modern novels about American life, the same is true; and even in men's magazines you'll find a variety of quips about the normalness of porn. It's become embedded into our pop culture and therefore our entertainment and our conversations.

Many men have an occasional touch of wariness about the effect their porn habit is having on their brains - even Mayer posits that it's affecting his generation's relationships later in thePlayboyinterview. But in general, viewing porn is something a lot of guys engage in without much thought, seeing it as something pretty innocuous - a normal part of life and fodder for endless jokes on internet forums.

But is porn really harmless? Should it in fact be part of a man's life, or are there potential downsides to this habit? In a 4-part series this week, I'll be thoroughly diving into these important questions.

Click hereto read this series of articles on the Art of Manliness website.

------------

Notable Quote: "Sexuality does not fall into the category of morally-neutral personality characteristics. There are divinely communicated boundaries surrounding sexuality. Same sex desire is different . . . than the norm when it comes to sexual desire, but that isn't a difference that should be celebrated; it is a difference that should be mourned."--Matt Moore on Barb Wire

The former psychiatrist-in-chief of Johns Hopkins Hospital is continuing his decades-long fight against transgender surgery as a solution to what he calls "a disorder of 'assumption.'"

In aJune 12Wall Street Journalop-ed, Dr. Paul McHugh wrote that "policy makers and the media are doing no favors either to the public or the transgendered" by not treating transgender "confusions ... as a mental disorder that deserves understanding, treatment and prevention."

According to McHugh, the "sense of being transgendered constitutes a mental disorder in two respects." The first, he says, is that "it does not correspond with physical reality." The second, more importantly, is that not treating transgender disorder properly "can lead to grim psychological outcomes."

In his op-ed, McHugh citeda 2011 studythat followed "324 sex-reassigned persons" from 1973 to 2003 in Sweden. According to the study's abstract, it found that "persons with transsexualism, after sex reassignment, have considerably higher risks for mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity than the general population."

Click hereto read the remainder of this article on the LifeSiteNews website.

------------

Notable Quote: "The [homosexual] agenda is ultimately not tolerance, not co-existence, but absolute dominance, and not only dominance, but forcing people to affirm homosexuality as normal."--Matt Staver, quoted in OneNewsNow, 9/9/2013

------------

This chart is found on Barb Wire 11/20/2014.
Homosexuals are 16 times more likely to be child abusers than homosexuals. 55.5% is 16 times greater than 3.4%.

Warning: Steer Clear of North Star
SoL Blog post, 8/25/2014

"Be constant as the north star," says a beloved Primary song. Some have asked us about North Star,
a website and organization run by Mormons (totally unofficially) that
purports to offer help and support for gay Mormons, including (quite
presumptuously) education for Church leaders.
Is the name by which the founders call this organization accurate? Does
North Star intend to lead people troubled with sinful tendencies in the
right direction? Is it constant and consistent with the gospel of Jesus
Christ? The unequivocal answer is no.

North Star must be exposed for its blatant inconstancy, harmful
sophistries, and pro-gay agenda.With its long history of following such
trends, SoL has found North Star full of cleverly-worded, watered-down,
but ultimately false and anti-Christ teachings, just another wolf
dressed in sheep's clothing, one more attempt to excuse homosexuality
and get it accepted, bit by bit, into mainstream LDS culture, policy,
and practice.

We cannot find that North Star anywhere in its writings, books, conferences,
or associations encourages repentance in thought or deed. As in the
writings of Ty Ray Mansfield, a founder of North Star, we do not see
that it focuses anywhere on the mighty change of heart, but rather seeks
to emphasize acceptance of the sexual gay identity as a permanent part
of one's God-given make-up, even as heroic. In Mansfield's bookIn Quiet Desperation,
an apologetic for Mormon same-sex attraction, the author sets himself
up as the gay Mormon Moses, describing a personal revelation, "as if the
Lord were saying to me, 'Ancient Israel was called to build a
tabernacle . . . they heeded my call. You my son have likewise been
called to build a kingdom.'" That kingdom, North Star, despite its
frequent use of the name of Christ, craftily treats the homosexual
identity as a virtue and a blessing and proclaims that one can be
fulfilled and happy while openly proclaiming this identity, which
obviously includes enjoying lawless sexual lust (otherwise why
self-identify?). As for homosexual behaviors, although North Star
insists that these are out of bounds, these behaviors are not clearly
defined and all sorts of acting out is portrayed by North Star itself.

One example is on North Star's blog where there is a post entitled "Man Crushes, Man Dates, Bromances, and Buddymoons" in which Mansfield, a self-determined homosexual,
obsesses publicly about his "intense infatuation" in a "non-romantic
or non-sexual way" with not one but several attractive males. This is at
best extremely adolescent andat worst, a sick lie. (News flash to Ty:
these trendy terms are used in a joking way by heterosexuals, not homosexuals.
Oops.) Contrary to his misguided or pretended insistence that these
attractions are "big brother"-like (did this grown man never grow out of
puberty?), the words crush, date, romance, and honeymoon are not about
friendship or masculine idealization, as he insists, but about romance
and sexuality. When actual homosexuals, as in same-sex sexual attraction, use these terms, what else can be meant but sexuality? Ty was featured in LDS magazine being applauded for his contrived temple marriage to a woman;according
to his insistence that he is homosexual he obviously can never love her
as a wife. Why is this man the poster child for "faithful" gay Mormons?
It's like having a chain smoker be the go-to man for people who need to
quit smoking.

David Pruden who used to run Evergreen (another such organization, perceived by many
to be an arm of the official Church on homosexuality although it
maintained that it was not) on Jan. 1, 2014 said,"Over the years more
and more of the activities of Evergreen and North Star have become
redundant as both organizations seek to help members of the Church . . .
and their families who are experiencing homosexual attraction. In a
world that is increasingly hostile to the message of the gospel and the
standards of the Church it is important that those who seek to serve
this subset of Church members be united in our shared message of
faithfulness. This merger will allow us to consolidate valuable
resources and focus the efforts of volunteers . . . under the direction
of a single volunteer-led organizational effort. We are excited about
the expanded possibilities that this united effort can provide."

Subset? Faithfulness? Again, these are sophistries. When it comes to
Christ's gospel of repentance, there are no special "subsets" or
minorities. This is a trendy, worldly view used to promote and excuse
homosexuality as something special and exempt, unlike other sexual sins.
The truth is we're all sinners and we're all in this together. People
publicly embracing (read: flaunting) sinful tendencies as an identity
are not faithful to Christ.

On its home page is this statement: "North Star is a community for Latter-day Saints
dealing with issues surrounding homosexual attraction who desire to live
in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the values and
doctrines of the Church . . . "

Here we point out that the wording "dealing with issues surrounding homosexual
attraction" (emphasis ours) shows that North Star is not about
individuals overcoming homosexuality or repentance. It's about "issues"
related to it, as in changing existing norms concerning wholesomeness
and sexual purity to include homosexuality. Proud homosexuals are
definitely not living in harmony with God's standards for sexual
morality.

North Star continues,
"The purpose of North Star is to be a spiritually uplifting resource
for individuals and families dealing with this complex issue. It is also
to empower individuals to help educate themselves, their family,
friends, and Church leaders as they strive to become integrated more
fully and lovingly into the Church . . . You are not alone . . ."

We at SoL have seen how North Star and others insist that this issue is so complex it cannot be rooted out. This is glaringly false. Reorientation
therapy has proved to be unprecedentedly successful for those who truly
desire to overcome homosexual tendencies. As for North Star's claim to
provide spiritual guidance, this version of "spirituality" is not really
about our relationship to the Godhead at all but about focusing on
personal temporal comfort and happiness (all is well in Zion). This
narrow, self-centered mindset is portrayed in Mansfield's Voices of Hope which emphasizes "positive and healthy alternative responses to
same-sex sexuality." Along with prideful and rebellious narcissism
posing as self-worth, North Star emphasizes sociology (human relations),
and piosity (outward performances) rather than any true relationship
with or obedience to God. In an obvious effort to sit on the fence
(let's not forget that the Lord spews fence-sitters out of his mouth),
Mansfield discourages choosing "between extremes." This is relativist, humanist, anti-Christ rhetoric, ancient to modern.
Sorry, you're either serving God or you're not. There's no middle ground
on absolute truths.

The mission statement of North Star is: "The mission of North Star is to provide a place of community for
Latter-day Saints who experience homosexual attraction or gender
identity incongruence, as well as their family, friends, and
ecclesiastical leaders. Northstar serves those who desire the spiritual
and social support that strengthens faith, builds character, and
empowers men and women to live in joy and harmony within their
covenants, values, and beliefs as members of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints." A three paragraph values statement includes: " . . . North Star takes no official position on the origin
or mutability of homosexual attractions or gender identity incongruence
but supports all efforts consistent with the gospel that help
individuals live in more full harmony with their covenants and attain
greater peace, fulfillment, and sense of individual worth, while
affirming that the most essential and eternal growth and progress come
through the power of the Savior and adherence to the teachings of his
prophets. . . . .North Star holds that the power and grace of Christ
enables each individual to renounce behavior and manage thoughts that
will prevent him or her from returning into his presence."

There are so many goofy things about this smarmy mission statement,
we hardly know where to being. At SoL we believe that anyone who refers
to the gay "community" has bought into the mindset that the vice of
homosexuality is a permanent and respectable identity. North Star is
presuming to educate us all, including ecclesiastical leaders, and yet
it is noticeably lacking on scripture in true context and responsible
science. Serious references to real experts on the topic and Church
leaders denouncing homosexuality are few and far between, seemingly only
for show. What manner of education can this be? We say it's the
philosophies of men mingled with scripture and bits of truth. North Star
uses the word transform but, we repeat, not in the context of
reorientation therapy or repentance, rather as a mode of bringing people
to accept their current perverse sexual obsessions as perfectly fine.
This tactic, although camouflaged in churchy language and even perhaps
done unwittingly, is exactly in line with the worldly gay agenda, that
is, to slowly and systematically bring individuals, families, churches,
government, businesses, and the general public around to accepting and
celebrating homosexuality. Case in point: See "Reconciling Faith and Feelings" conferences in which Mansfield and others associated with North Star have participated.

If you learn anything from this article, please note: North Star does not emphasize or explore repentance or reorientation therapy.
In fact, North Star publishes articles dismissing reorientation therapy
as inappropriate, ineffective, harmful, and even sinful. We quote from a North Star post by Sven Sambunjak,"
I believe homosexuality is spiritual in its origin and nature, so I
argue it is a sin to try to hammer it out of existence." This is the
type of material North Star is publishing.

At its core, whatever they say, North Star proves itself to be about
helping people feel comfortable in their sinful desires. In favor of
some hazy "inclusiveness," unreliable human feelings, false notions, and
praise of men, North Star is being guided not by any real unchanging
north star (in this case, comprehensive sexual purity and the
unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ), but by its own constructed set of
arbitrary standards.

Sad to say, for many years now SoL has seen that there are members of
our Church with great ambition, wrong ideas, and bad intentions who
nevertheless gain attention and credibility through flattery and patient
cunning. These false teachers have proceeded to win many over, step by
step to their evil designs, just as The Book of Mormon Anti-Christs did.

The true views of North Star, given even the the most liberal views of
the most liberal LDS leaders, are off the charts. We urge all
right-minded followers of Christ to get educated for themselves about
North Star and its origins and activities before utilizing or referring
this organization or anyone affiliated with it.

Click here to read this and other posts on the Standard of Liberty Blog.

The Standard of LibertyVoice
August 17, 2014In This Issue:

-SoL Voice: "Misguided Compassion vs the Word of God"-"Is the Gay Bullying Plague in Schools a Myth?" by Dr. David van Gend

-"300 Articles to Read to Understand the Term Homofascism" by Robert Oscas Lopez
-"Christians Need to be Clear - Change is Possible" by Janet Boynes
-"Gay Agenda? What Gay Agenda?" by Scott Lively
"3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don't Leave the Church," Jon Nielson
-Understanding the Times, with Jan Markell
Stand For the Family Conference flier

"We can't hope to win our child back unless we include him," say
desperate LDS families with unrepentant gay family members. "Compassion
is the thing."

Our hearts go out to such families. But is this really the way to win loved ones back? First of all, let's define include.
Some think including means treating gay family members the same as they
always have, pretending like nothing's wrong, welcoming their same-sex
sexual partner(s) into their homes and families. But including a person
in your life can also mean spending time with them individually, keeping
in touch, setting rules for family gatherings that do not promote
homosexualism, and holding your ground. Both are inclusive of the
person, but the first implicitly shows an acceptance of the bad
behaviors as well.

Next let's define compassion. This word has been hijacked. Real
compassion includes caring about a person's long-term well-being.
Compassion is not about tolerating sin to keep up appearances. That
would be the opposite of compassion, a sort of condemning the person to
hell, really. These people are not the total victims they purport to be.
However much you love and admire them, whatever else good they may be
doing, they are also deeply involved in risky pleasure-seeking sin, a
very old and despicable vice.

About winning the family member back --- to the church, to the way they
were taught, to righteousness. We have never seen this happen using the
above tactic. It's Burke's famous quote brought home: "All it takes for
evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." When Ammon went to
preach to the wickedest of Lamanites (wild, ferocious, hardened,
murderers, robbers, hearts set on riches) and had much success, it
wasn't because he pretended nothing was wrong. It was because he
preached sin and repentance and Christ (Alma 17-20). Those whose hearts
were changed became a righteous people.

Families who treat this problem by shrugging their shoulders and merely
putting up with it may end up being won over themselves, brought along
to homosexualism bit by bit. No one is immune. This is obviously what
happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. The vice spread and people just got used
to it. Getting everyone used to homosexuality, even to recruit youth,
family supporters, and activists, are stated goals of the gay agenda.
Proud out gays have no doubt been trained on how to bring their families
along, to be very cunning and patient, and to see every inch as a gain.
Let's not forget the scriptural warning against complacency, against
the all-is-well-in-Zion philosophy (2 Nephi 28:21). Such apathy brings
with it slow and steady degradation.

Again, this doesn't have to mean we reject our wayward loved ones. Not
at all. Setting boundaries is not the same as cutting a person out of
your life, no matter what they say or how they react. There are many
ways to show love and concern without allowing proud homosexualism, or
any other shameless sinfulness, into our midst. Meet with them
one-on-one. Express sincere love and concern often. Write. Call. Educate
yourself. Offer facts and help in overcoming homosexuality. Support
anything wholesome they are involved in. If the gay family member says
they feel rejected in spite of continuing efforts of this kind on the
family's part, the problem lies with them. You can't force people to be
humble, to confess sin, to repent, to change. In this case, theirs are
the hearts that must be softened, not yours.

Most importantly, live your religion from the inside out. The misguided
and perhaps self-serving compassion practiced by inclusive families
being overrun by homosexualism is not the word of God. It's not only the
path of least resistance, it's the devil's way. The word of God is the
iron rod in Lehi's dream, more powerful than anything else (Alma 31:5).
Preach it. Apply it. Love it. Have faith in it. Be patient. Be humble.
Be confident in the Lord. Make Christ the Redeemer your center
--- not family, not temples, not missions, not callings, not
accomplishments, not service. Love God before all else. Be a living
example of applying basic gospel principles such as faith and repentance
in every facet of your own life. Seek the Spirit to know when and how
to share your beliefs. Love all your family members enough to give them
your conviction of the value of morality, health, and truth. Even as you
find ways to truly love and safely interact with your wayward loved
one, never get used to the sinful vice of homosexuality. Never give it
respect. Never get comfortable with it.

This will be difficult. This will be uncomfortable. This is be a rocky
road. But as for you and your house, you will be serving the Lord.

An Australian doctor questions "safe school" and"gay-straight alliance" programs.
An open letter to the Australian Education Minister

The Hon Christopher Pyne
Minister for Education
Dear Mr Pyne,

I
trust you, or your advisors, will give serious consideration to the
medical evidence below and reconsider your decision to fund the
so-called Safe Schools programme throughout Australia.

The
political justification for 'Safe Schools' programmes, or the associated
'Gay-Straight Alliances', is that there is a plague of gay-based
bullying in our schools, and the only way to counter that is through
celebrating homosexuality. That justification, however, is doubtful.

In
one large study comparing a thousand homosexual and heterosexual adults
in the UK, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2003, the
researchers found no increase in bullying of gay men compared to
heterosexual men, whether at school or subsequently, whether verbally or
physically. "Reports that gay and lesbian people are vulnerable to such
experiences because of their sexuality are often taken at face value",
these researchers noted, with other studies failing to draw a comparison
to heterosexual students.

In other words, there are many reasons
to be bullied at school - for being too smart, too dumb; too fat, too
weak; or for being "gay" even when you are not gay. A
report in the news only last week finds one-third of 10-year-olds in
Australia report being bullied for various reasons. That is something
many young people go through, and the claim that homosexual people
suffer disproportionate bullying appears to be "taken at face value".

Another
contentious claim of the gay lobby used to justify the 'normalisation'
of homosexual relationships and behaviour in schools (as well as the
goal of normalising homosexual 'marriage') is that depression and
suicide among gay men is the fault of homophobic society, so that if
society rejects gay marriage and does not celebrate homosexuality in
schools, it is responsible for the despair and death of homosexual
citizens. This same British study was more circumspect:

"It may
be that prejudice in society against gay men and lesbians leads to
greater psychological distress... Conversely, gay men and lesbians may
have lifestyles that make them vulnerable to psychological disorder.
Such lifestyles may include increased use of drugs and alcohol."
The
Australian Institute of Health and welfare in 2010 found the prevalence
of illicit drug use by homosexuals to be more than double that of
heterosexuals (34 percent to 14 percent) while the rate of excessive
alcohol intake was 25 percent to 16 percent. Such behaviours are
certainly risk factors for depression and suicide, but are they somebody
else's fault? In Canada, where gay marriage was legalised in 2005,
homosexual lobbyists in 2009 still cited drug and alcohol abuse as
several times higher amongst gays.

So are we to understand that
substance abuse by heterosexuals is their own fault, but the elevated
rate of intoxication in the gay scene, with its consequences for
depression and suicide, is the fault of homophobic society?

From
my observations as a family doctor, the pressures that depress a young
gay man are more intrinsic than extrinsic: the sense that something has
gone
wrong deep inside; the depressing and degrading effect of his compulsive
sexual encounters; the unresolved anger at what he sees to be the cause
of his sexual confusion, such as childhood abuse by a male.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on Mercator.net website.

Recently
PFOX (Parents and Friends of Ex-gays and Gays) produced a series of
videos featuring some who have overcome homosexuality and their friends
and relatives. These videos are voices which can give hope and
encouragement to those engaged in the personal effort to overcome
homosexuality and the cultural fight against its acceptance.

Notable Quote: "Confusion
over sexual feelings is quite common among teens but it is usually a
passing phase. The extensive National Health and Social Life Survey
across the USA in 1994 found that some 8 percent of sixteen year olds
identified as gay - but, significantly, the number halved within two
years to just over 4 percent, and halved again by age 25 so that only
2.8 percent still thought they were gay. What that means is that most
sexual confusion in adolescence - a full three-quarters in this study --
clears away if left to itself."--Dr. David van Gend in Mercatornet.com

"Surely you don't believe all homosexuals are child molesters!" That's
the indignant response to growing concerns about open, proud homosexuals
having such easy access to children and teens. New policies granting
unprecedented rights to those involved in homosexual behavior connect
more and more children to these proud sinners. Outright pedophilia
aside, there are still many opportunities for these deviant adults to
interact with and negatively influence children.

I write this article with great sadness, because
every day that goes by means more vulnerable children are deceived,
corrupted and enticed down roads that take them far, far from their Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet America's attitude, even that of the
Christian church, seems to be, "Oh, well- as long as they play the right
sports and have lots of friends on Facebook!" But what happens to our
sons and daughters when we don't confront and expose this danger?

Every time I think of quitting this difficult
battle, the Lord gently reminds me about the children. Libertarians act
as if all humans are over the age of eighteen, but every behavior we
tolerate as adults trickles down to impressionable children. The public
debate about "gay rights" often forgets the youngest victims of the
deception and the impact on their unfolding lives. We have to keep
trying to expose the problems presented by homosexual political activism
even as we try to rescue those caught up in this behavior.

Here are 12 reasons why homosexual adults and children do not mix:

1. Adults proudly living a homosexual life are disastrous role models. That lesbian teacher may be a personable expert in her subject, but her immoral lifestyle
may mislead children. As she proclaims that homosexuals are always
victims, displays the picture of her partner or "wife," and befriends
confused "LBGT" youth, many kids will come to exactly the wrong
conclusion: "Ms. Warren seems nice, so the 'gay' life must be okay."

2. Children living a home headed by homosexual adults are exposed to the same poor examples in triple intensity and intimacy.
Same -sex- coupled parents live a huge lie, deceiving themselves and
the children, because they were not "born this way," this is not
"marriage," and they are in all probability engaging in physically risky
behaviors, like males who have anal sex . Just talk to emergency room doctors to find out the harmful outcomes
of "faux" intercourse. These relationships can turn volatile in a
second, with higher rates of domestic violence,
putting everyone in the household at risk. Homosexual adults are
typically high consumers of pornography, another element poisonous to
the young.

Children from such homes have more problematic
lives as young adults, according to a study by Dr. Mark Regnerus,
findings spurned by vocal homosexual activists in America. Still, the
study was academically validated by the University of Texas.

3. Transvestite men or "drag king" women are deeply disturbing to children. Gender confusion is deep delusion,
denying the obvious while constructing a complicated pretense. It
appears scary and phony to children because it is. In public schools,
these confused people expect to keep their teaching jobs (like Gary Sconce at Yosemite High School),
insisting on their selfish goals regardless of the impact on students.
Grade school children are now being taught in programs like "Welcoming Schools" that a schoolmate or teacher dressing and acting as the opposite sex is
not bizarre and disordered, but everyone else must adjust and cooperate
with the deceit. So in California, boys are now playing on the girls' softball team and little children are being encouraged to switch genders if they wish.

By law in New Jersey and California, a teen's
homosexual feelings can't be changed by counseling because it's
"harmful," but gender remains infinitely flexible. And we wonder why
children don't respect adults.

4. Students are sometimes blank slates for the indoctrination plans of homosexual political activists, teachers and others. These innocent
minds are taught to affirm sexual perversion, but often in concert with
the entire platform of destructive, leftist causes. GLSEN (the Gay,
Lesbian and Straight Education Network) has launched local and regional youth conferences to do exactly this. Mom and Dad may be in the dark, because
indoctrination programs prey especially on the neglected child with
preoccupied parents. It's a recipe for creating the low-information
junior barbarian with an anarchist, "Occupy Wall Street" mentality.

5. Now to the dynamite question: yes, some homosexually-identified adults do have sex with underage teens and even children.
What percentage of openly "LGBT" adults do this is anyone's guess. It's
not all of them, of course, but it certainly seems to occur
disproportionately more than among heterosexuals. There is a contingent within homosexual circles pushing for adults to gain more access to minors, sometimes disguised
as support for "questioning" kids. When allegations about celebrities assaulting youth are made, the left is silent. The major homosexual
groups do nothing to discourage those adults among them who would betray
and violate children in this way. The latest Hollywood pedophile scandal about homosexual producer Bryan Singer and others is a big yawn for the mainstream media.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the BarbWire website.

------------

Notable Quote: "As a practical matter, being an open homosexual is indistinguishable
from proclaiming a belief that homosexual acts are morally innocent.
After all, if one accepted the traditional view that such acts are
morally impermissible, one would ordinarily keep one's inclination to
them to oneself."
--Carson Holloway, "The Boy Scouts' Doomed Compromise."

------------

300 Articles You Have to Read to Understand the Term 'Homofascism'
by Robert Oscar Lopez on BarbWire

A challenging homework assignment: What
is the pattern? What makes "homofascism" unique from other movements?
Discuss. But you must be thorough - read ALL 300 articles. You'll have a
dissertation.

The compilation below represents the detective and archiving work of
dozens of conservative activists. Thank you so much - you know who you
are.

1. 14 year old receives death threats for defending traditional/natural marriage...

5. A homosexual-"rights" activist is demanding that the new Albany
County Executive refuse to hire a lawyer that supports traditional
marriage. It appears to be a case of tolerance for anybody who agrees
with her, and intolerance for anyone who dares to disagree. And to think
the activists accuse us of "bigotry" and "discrimination"...

6. Edmond police are investigating after a church pastor reported
receiving death threats since speaking out against a proposal to add
sexual orientation to Oklahoma City's equal employment protections...

Notable Quote: Virtue is not a void or absence of a wrong, it is the presence of a
right. Values or virtues are the light and the key to putting beauty
into the rest of life.
--G.K Chesterton

------------

Christians Need to be Clear -- Change is Possible
by Janet Boyes in Deseret News

Thousands living the homosexual lifestyle along with thousands not
actively involved in a relationship, but who are dealing with same-sex
attraction, are looking for a way out. Frequently the Christian church
isn't equipped to deal with it, and often doesn't want to deal with it.
Under political pressure from LGBT activists, the professional community
is also backing away from counseling, which helps many who desire to
leave the homosexual lifestyle to do so.

Now is not the time for either the church or the profession to run and hide. It's time to engage.

Quite often, we treat the symptoms instead of finding
the root cause. I was a lesbian for 14 years. I was walking around
wounded, and knew that I wasn't going to find healing on my own. My
struggle is all too common. My mother had seven children by four
fathers. None of those men stayed. I was a young, fatherless girl
looking for stability, belonging and love. I ended up sexually abused,
high on drugs and dealing cocaine. I was so lacking in self-worth that I
retreated to the LGBT community to find acceptance.

Choosing that lifestyle did not solve my problems. In
order to deal with all the baggage I carried, I needed to seek help.
What that looked like for me might be different from what someone else
needs. While the involvement of professionals is important, the role
that Christian churches play is also critical when helping someone leave
the homosexual lifestyle.

In my own experience, a group of women invited me to
join them in their weekly Bible study. They knew my struggle, but they
were willing to reach out and show love, patience and forgiveness toward
me. Godly relationships are key in this transformation.

A person with same-sex attraction develops thought
patterns that become strongholds. It takes consistent teaching, love,
and the word of God to bring about transformation. This is a process. In
many cases, deep wounds are involved and the behavior is just a
reflection of those hurts.

I wrote the story of my transformation in my book
"Called Out." It was featured in Charisma magazine. I've also given my
testimony many times on television as well as in many churches across
our nation.

I am devoted to helping people come out of unwanted
homosexuality. But while I and others are devoted to this cause, the
apathy and unpreparedness of the church must change. Alarmingly,
California and New Jersey laws have banned "conversion therapy"
counseling for minors who want to leave homosexual lifestyles.

Although a challenge to the California law is on
appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, efforts to protect the right of
families and therapists to make their own therapeutic choices have been
successful in 12 states, including Maryland, Illinois and Washington.

This topic can no longer be ignored. Many churches
have closed their eyes, hoping it would just go away. Or they have
inwardly convinced themselves that they shouldn't address something so
controversial. Our culture is forcing us to take a stand and to set
things straight that have been confused.

Media and school programs promoting tolerance,
equality, fairness and love are drawing our youths into the gay
lifestyle. Most programs are prohibited from suggesting that it was
Jesus himself who showed the way: "If you love me, keep my
commandments."

People deserve truthful answers to questions. Gay
activists say that change is impossible. I'm a living example that
change is possible.

We may not have chosen this battle, but it has been
thrust upon us. I urge the faith-based and professional communities to
become informed and involved.

Notable Quote: "As a practical matter, being an open homosexual is indistinguishable
from proclaiming a belief that homosexual acts are morally innocent.
After all, if one accepted the traditional view that such acts are
morally impermissible, one would ordinarily keep one's inclination to
them to oneself."
--Carson Holloway, "The Boy Scouts' Doomed Compromise."

------------

Gay Agenda? What Gay Agenda?by Scott Lively in World Net Daily

Mentioning the "gay" agenda in the
presence of an LGBT activist or any other cultural Marxist is like
pulling the string on a Sheriff Woody doll. You hear precisely the same
recording each time: "What gay agenda? There is no gay agenda."

But, of course, the audacious lie that the now-global LGBT political
movement has "no agenda" is as transparent as the emperor's new clothes.
Indeed, their agenda is not only undeniable, it has unfortunately
become unavoidable.

An agenda is simply a plan or list of matters to be acted upon by a
person or group related to a strategic goal to be achieved. By
definition, every person or group with a goal has one.

The original goal of the "gay" movement was best summarized by Dale
Jennings of the Mattachine Society as "the right to be left alone." That
goal can be translated as "tolerance." I think it is fair to say that
the vast majority of pro-family advocates and activists in the world
today (including this writer) would gladly support that goal.

However, with the violent Stonewall Riot of June 28, 1969 (celebrated
annually today as "Gay Pride Day"), the movement adopted a radical
Marxist goal and agenda heavily influenced by Herbert Marcuse of the
Frankfort School of "Cultural Marxists."

"Marcuse, Herbert (1898-1979) German-born philosopher
Herbert Marcuse was one of the leading theorists of the New Left in
Europe and the United States in the late 1960s. Much like Michel
Foucault in a later generation, Marcuse had an enormous
influence on theories of sexual liberation, particularly in the early
post-Stonewall gay movement and on the left. Many young people in the
1960s adopted Marcuse-like sexual politics as the basis for the
counter-culture's radical transformation of values" (GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture).

Marcuse's advocacy of "the Great Refusal" (ie. civil disobedience and
cultural warfare) as a strategy for breaking down the existing social
order to make way for a Marxist utopian alternative was articulated in
his books, "Eros and Civilization" (1955) and "One-Dimensional Man" (1964), and was adopted by the Stonewall-era "gay" leaders.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the WorldNetDaily website.

------------

Notable Quote: "The [homosexual] agenda is ultimately not tolerance, not co-existence,
but absolute dominance, and not only dominance, but forcing people to
affirm homosexuality as normal."--Matt Staver, quoted in OneNewsNow, 9/9/2013

------------

3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don't Leave the Churchby Jon Nielson on FaithIt.com

"What do we do about our kids?" The group of
parents sat together in my office, wiping their eyes. I'm a high school
pastor, but for once, they weren't talking about 16-year-olds drinking
and partying. Each had a story to tell about a "good Christian" child,
raised in their home and in our church, who had walked away from the
faith during the college years. These children had come through our
church's youth program, gone on short-term mission trips, and served in
several different ministries during their teenage years. Now they didn't
want anything to do with it anymore. And, somehow, these mothers' ideas
for our church to send college students "care packages" during their
freshman year to help them feel connected to the church didn't strike me
as a solution with quite enough depth.

The daunting statistics about church-going youth keep rolling in. Panic ensues. What are we doing wrong in our churches? In our youth ministries?

It's hard to sort through the various reports
and find the real story. And there is no one easy solution for bringing
all of those "lost" kids back into the church, other than continuing to
pray for them and speaking the gospel into their lives. However, we can
all look at the 20-somethings in our churches who are engaged and involved in ministry. What is it that sets apart the kids who stay in
the church? Here are just a few observations I have made about such
kids, with a few applications for those of us serving in youth ministry.

1. They are converted.The Apostle Paul, interestingly enough,
doesn't use phrases like "nominal Christian" or "pretty good kid." The
Bible doesn't seem to mess around with platitudes like: "Yeah, it's a
shame he did that, but he's got a good heart." When we listen to the
witness of Scripture, particularly on the topic of conversion, we find
that there is very little wiggle room. Listen to these words:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has
passed away; behold, the new has come." (2 Cor. 5:17)
We youth pastors need to get back to understanding salvation as what it
really is: a miracle that comes from the glorious power of God through
the working of the Holy Spirit.

We need to stop talking about "good kids." We
need to stop being pleased with attendance at youth group and fun
retreats. We need to start getting on our knees and praying that the
Holy Spirit will do miraculous saving work in the hearts of our students
as the Word of God speaks to them. In short, we need to get back to a
focus on conversion. How many of us are preaching to "unconverted
evangelicals"? Youth pastors, we need to preach, teach, and talk-all the
while praying fervently for the miraculous work of regeneration to
occur in the hearts and souls of our students by the power of the Holy
Spirit! When that happens-when the "old goes" and the "new comes"-it
will not be iffy. We will not be dealing with a group of "nominal
Christians." We will be ready to teach, disciple, and equip a generation
of future church leaders-"new creations"!-who are hungry to know and
speak God's Word. It is converted students who go on to love Jesus and
serve the church.

2. They have been equipped, not entertained. Recently, we had "man day" with some of the
guys in our youth group. We began with an hour of basketball at the
local park, moved to an intense game of 16" ("Chicago Style") softball,
and finished the afternoon by gorging ourselves on meaty pizzas and
2-liters of soda. I am not against fun (or gross, depending on your
opinion of the afternoon I just described) things in youth ministry. But
youth pastors especially need to keep repeating the words of Ephesians
4:11-12 to themselves: "[Christ] gave...the teachers to equip the saints
for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ."
Christ gives us-teachers-to the church, not for entertainment,
encouragement, examples, or even friendship primarily. He gives us to
the church to "equip" the saints to do gospel ministry in order that the
church of Christ may be built up.

If I have not equipped the students in my
ministry to share the gospel, disciple a younger believer, and lead a
Bible study, then I have not fulfilled my calling to them, no matter how
good my sermons have been. We pray for conversion; that is all we can
do, for it is entirely a gracious gift of God. But after conversion, it
is our Christ-given duty to help fan into flame a faith that serves,
leads, teaches, and grows. If our students leave high school without
Bible-reading habits, Bible-study skills, and strong examples of
discipleship and prayer, we have lost them. We have entertained, not
equipped them...and it may indeed be time to panic!

Forget your youth programs for a second. Are
we sending out from our ministries the kind of students who will show up
to college in a different state, join a church, and begin doing the
work of gospel ministry there without ever being asked? Are we equipping
them to that end, or are we merely giving them a good time while
they're with us? We don't need youth group junkies; we need to be
growing churchmen and churchwomen who are equipped to teach, lead, and
serve. Put your youth ministry strategies aside as you look at that
16-year-old young man and ask: "How can I spend four years with this
kid, helping him become the best church deacon and sixth-grade Sunday
school class teacher he can be, ten years down the road?"

3. Their parents preached the gospel to them. As a youth pastor, I can't do all this. All
this equipping that I'm talking about is utterly beyond my limited
capabilities. It is impossible for me to bring conversion, of course,
but it is also impossible for me to have an equipping ministry that
sends out vibrant churchmen and churchwomen if my ministry is not being
reinforced tenfold in the students' homes. The common thread that binds
together almost every ministry-minded 20-something that I know is
abundantly clear: a home where the gospel was not peripheral but
absolutely central. The 20-somethings who are serving, leading, and
driving the ministries at our church were kids whose parents made them
go to church. They are kids whose parents punished them and held them
accountable when they were rebellious. They are kids whose parents read
the Bible around the dinner table every night. And they are kids whose
parents were tough but who ultimately operated from a framework of grace
that held up the cross of Jesus as the basis for peace with God and
forgiveness toward one another.

This is not a formula! Kids from wonderful
gospel-centered homes leave the church; people from messed-up family
backgrounds find eternal life in Jesus and have beautiful marriages and
families. But it's also not a crapshoot. In general, children who are
led in their faith during their growing-up years by parents who love
Jesus vibrantly, serve their church actively, and saturate their home
with the gospel completely, grow up to love Jesus and the church. The
words of Proverbs 22:6 do not constitute a formula that is true 100
percent of the time, but they do provide us with a principle that comes
from the gracious plan of God, the God who delights to see his gracious
Word passed from generation to generation: "Train up a child in the way
he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

Youth pastors, pray with all your might for
true conversion; that is God's work. Equip the saints for the work of
the ministry; that is your work. Parents, preach the gospel and live the
gospel for your children; our work depends on you.

Executive orders are flying that even force Christians to hire
homosexuals and cross-dressers. What can the Christian do in today's
deteriorating culture? We are in the days of Noah and we won't celebrate
"gay pride." Insights are given by former homosexuals Stephen Bennett and Rosaria Butterfield. Then Linda Harvey from "Mission America" weighs in with her thoughts. She has tackled the
gay agenda for 20 years and has paid a price. Even elements of the
church suggest "Jesus had two daddies and turned out ok." Just 3% of the
population, the estimated number of homosexuals in America, is wagging
the dog.

Maybe He's Not Gay by Linda HarveyMy Darling from the Lions by Janice Barrett GrahamChased by an Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today's Stampeding Sexuality by Janice Barrett Graham (for LDS families with growing children) Wild Elephant, the Gospel Truth about Today's Stampeding Sexualityby Janice Barrett Graham (for families from all Christian denominations with growing
children)Me, Tarzan, You Janeby Janice Barrett Graham (for the youngest children)Captain of My Soul by Aaron S. GrantOut From Under, The Impact of Homosexual Parenting by Dawn StefanowiczLight in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality, and the Power to Change by Arthur GoldbergHomosexuality
and the Church of Jesus Christ: Understanding Homosexuality According
to the Doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by A. Dean Byrd

Crimes of the Common CoreBook Review by Janice GrahamThe Story-Killers, A Common Sense Case Against the Common CoreTerrence O. Moore, 2013

Aware
parents and sincere teachers are wringing their hands as they suspect a
terrible crime being committed. It is the systematic murder of young
minds, elementary through high school. At last, the Sherlock Holmes of
education has come to strip off the nefarious disguise of the Common
Core for all to see. His name is Terrence Moore, teacher, education
reformer, and writer with a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, a
professor of history at Hillsdale Collage, and founder of numerous
classical charter schools. He has expertly and painstakingly done what
worried citizens everywhere have wished for: dissected, closely
examined, and analyzed the federal Common Core (standards and textbooks)
which now controls the testing and curriculum of our public schools and
even many private schools in more than forty
states. What's in it really? And what is it doing to the vulnerable
minds of the rising generation? Terrence Moore tells us in his timely
new thriller, The Story-Killers.

I'm
dead serious; it's a thriller, a disturbing book that to a lover of
literature and learning reads in parts like dark science fiction:
Huxley-esque "Brave New Core" or Orwellian "Animal School."
I couldn't put it down. It's incredible what's happened to public
education and to the nation since it has fallen into the hands of
big-money-backed, pseudo-intellectual radical progressives who think
they're smarter than the greatest thinking comprising the accumulated
history of the age-old human race.

The
book poses questions. Did you get a classical education? Will your
children and grandchildren? Terrence Moore says no, we probably didn't,
that it was in the 1950s that Americans got the last decent education
from our public system, and our posterity is totally being thrown under
the school bus due to the Common Core.

What
is the purpose of educating the young anyway? Moore hones in on what
the elites posing as education reformers say they think it is: getting a
job. The book is worth reading just to be treated to Moore's refreshing
revelation on the false premises behind the ubiquitous phrases
"twenty-first century," "global economy," and "college and career
readiness," showing how none of these should be primary concerns in
educating children. (I was always bothered by the schools trying to
pigeon hole my young children into the commercial world and now I know
why.) Moore reminds us: "The purpose of a liberal education, then, is
more than getting into college or getting a job. Those are byproducts of
a liberal education, but not the highest purpose."

"The
chief reasons for education are to bring children and young people to
an understanding of the human and natural worlds and to teach them
virtue and self-government. . . Today's children and young people need
to understand human beings and true human happiness no less today than
they have in the past. Indeed, given the amount of time they spend on
video games and social media on their own, the young people of today may
need more study in the humanities than ever before. Therefore they need
stories-beautiful and powerful stories that instruct them, that inspire
them, that amuse them, and that make them more human."

Young
people must be taught "how to bring about beauty and order and
justice in the world. First, however, the must learn how to bring order
and beauty into their own souls." They learn this by seeing life through
the classics, "through the eyes of those who have best understood human
life."

"The
man or woman who understands human nature and history, and who has a
tolerable work ethic and a sound character, will never have trouble
getting into college, nor landing a job, nor gaining a public voice, nor
knowing what counts for truth, beauty, and goodness in this world. As
such, that man or woman will have a much greater chance of obtaining the
great end of human life: happiness-the happiness that comes from
pursuing truth and living virtuously."

What
happens when the rising generation gets a true education? Things like:
"Love. Law. Freedom. Science. Culture. Prosperity, Justice. Faith.
Happiness." What has resulted from our secularized culture of
politically correct malaise and will only further spread in the hands of
the Common Core? The opposites of all of the above.

The
author's expert analysis focuses specifically on the teaching of great
literature, which necessarily includes traditional values, religion,
philosophy, and history. Not only has he documented and explained flaws
and dangers ingrained in the Common Core (which to the untrained eye may
seem innocuous or be
obscured), but he has written about it engagingly and well, in total
contrast to the pretentious, incomprehensible, boring, and random
material displayed in the Common Core Standards and textbooks
themselves.

But
for all Moore's systematic study and measured and often charitable
conclusions, he is righteously indignant, and his literature-loving wife
"sick at heart," at the direction our country has taken in the
education of children and youth, as should we all be. As I read I began
to make a list of adjectives Moore uses in describing parts of the
Common Core, including the written standards, teacher prompts,
questions, requirements, textbooks, performance tasks, and activities,
and I must say these materials speak for themselves. A lot of it truly
is:
pseudo-scientific, radical, simplistic, insipid, mind-numbing,
meaningless, bankrupt, artificial, mechanical, predictable, dreary,
boring, lifeless, formulaic, boilerplate, Mickey Mouse, canned, unclear,
mush, shoddy, random, disordered, obtuse, biased, drivel, dry-as-dust,
irresponsible, intellectual clap-trap, snarky, confusing, a waste,
duplicitous, petty, distracting, mishandled, disparate, clueless,
slapdash, absurd, mad, culturally worthless, politically charged.

Even
if former generations thought school was boring in their day, even if
they had a few bad teachers and not enough excellent ones, I'll bet they
don't think their education was particularly artificial, biased,
duplicitous, worthless, politically-charged madness. Moore convinces us
that this is the
state to which we have arrived today. Under the direction of the Federal
Government and the arch-testers, our children are receiving "a false
education." In many instances it's easy to see that the Common Core
"offers the facade of learning without any actual learning taking
place."

Click here to read the rest of this book review on Standard of Liberty website.

------------
Notable Quote: "Freedom
prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is
acknowledged. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root,
it is a test of moral will and faith."--Ronald Reagan, 1983------------

How to Defend Against "Gay" Marriage:Short Talking Points You Can Memorizeby Janice Graham

Don't get caught empty-headed! You
love people but you know marriage between same sexes is absurd, harmful,
and must be opposed. Its advocates have their cunning but shallow
arguments down pat. This is a war against God, truth, and reality, a war
for the hearts of the rising generation and beyond. You need to have
your sound bites ready, too!

A reader
asked us to compile a list of brief statements. The following are two
lists, one from a religious worldview and the other from an ostensibly
nonreligious (scientific, historical, sociological) worldview. They are
short and easy to memorize, with key words or letters bolded.

We didn't make these up, but have collected them from many sources across the internet.

Keep this list handy. Go over it regularly in spare moments. Feel free to send more to add to this list.

------------ Notable Quote:Although
not all marriages result in children, a married couple's infertility is
incidental, whereas a same-sex couple's sterility is inherent. An
infertile married couple can still comprehensively unite in a way that
is procreative in nature, even if not in effect.--Clair Chretien in The Crimson White, 2013------------

If Being Gay Is So Difficult
by Janice Graham

If
being gay is so difficult, why aren't there tons of studies being done
about the causes and effects and treatments of unwanted homosexual lusts
and behaviors? We emphasize the word unwanted. Many people insist they do not want these desires. Don't we care about their misery?

We'll
tell you why nothing is being done and why grassroots blogs like ours
are singled out and denigrated. Because this issue has been totally
propagandized, politicized, culturally accepted, and shut down. No
honest questions or discussions are allowed. It all amounts to the
populace forming exceedingly strong uninformed opinions, opinions fed to
the people by trendy, self-interested, secularized institutions. It's
about people putting their trust in human beings rather than God,
goodness, and truth. After all, those with power and influence can turn
human minds anyway they wish, and those with power and influence can be
and often are or become nonbenevolent. If you have an opinion about
homosexuality that goes against the
accumulated wisdom of the human race and God Himself, you might want to
think about it a little. Read some books maybe. (Seriously, all these
people who think they are so enlightened need to crack a few
classics.)

We
ask: Is it smart or wise or charitable not to warn young people of some
very risky self-determinations, associations, and behaviors? Not to
support reality and truth and health and wisdom and God?

Roger
Scruton called the "fast and loose accusation of homophobia," bigotry,
mental instability, and such, and so-called thought crimes that are not
clearly distinguished toward people who question the legitmization of
homosexuality, "a serious threat to freedom of speech about an issue of
pressing public concern." And yes, the public legitimization and
encouragement of alternative sexual identities, lusts, and behaviors
(including gay "marriage") is of great public concern. Matt Barber said,
"So-called 'homophobia' is not responsible for the fact that, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-in-five '"gay'
men and adolescents in major cities
across America have been infected - through bad behavior - with
HIV/AIDS. Sin is responsible. In almost every category - disease,
depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide - those who call
themselves 'gay' live and die with consequences that have nothing gay,
in the true sense of the word, about them."

George
Orwell said that societies have always had some strict mores about
human
sexuality to insure their own survival. -G.K Chesterton said, "All
healthy men, ancient and modern, know there is a certain fury in sex
that we cannot afford to inflame, and that a certain mystery and awe
must ever surround it if we are to remain sane." Isn't it crazy that
people are being threatened and punished today for standing for
goodness, even for wanting to discuss the dangerous direction our
culture has taken? Again, this is why we call ourselves the Standard of
Liberty. Our freedom to live and speak according to the dictates of our
consciences is at stake in great part because of the homosexual
movement. Vulnerable, confused, and damaged young people are being
sacrificed to this false god.

Notable Quote: We
need elders and pastors with a vision to establish churches where a
person struggling with same-sex attraction or even homosexual practices
are lovingly warned, discipled, and given care. We need to continue to
declare that homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin, but that
repentance is called for. --Jason Helopoulos in The Gospel Coalition. 1/30/2014

------------

Responding to pressure to unify the church
by denying Scripture and accepting homosexual behaviorBy Albert Mohler

Evangelical
Christians in the United States now face an inevitable moment of
decision. While Christians in other movements and in other nations face
similar questions, the question of homosexuality now presents
evangelicals in the United States with a decision that cannot be
avoided. Within a very short time, we will know where everyone stands on
this question. There will be no place to hide, and there will be no way
to remain silent. To be silent will answer the question.

The
question is whether evangelicals will remain true to the teachings of
Scripture and the unbroken teaching of the Christian church for over
2,000 years on the morality of same-sex acts and the institution of
marriage.

The
world is pressing this question upon us, but so are a number of voices
from within the larger evangelical circle-voices that are calling for a
radical revision of the church's understanding of the Bible, sexual
morality and the meaning of marriage. We are living in the midst of a
massive revolution in morality, and sexual morality is at the center of
this revolution. The question of same-sex relationships and sexuality is
at the very center of the debate over sexual
morality, and our answer to this question will both determine or reveal
what we understand about everything the Bible reveals and everything the
church teaches-even the gospel itself.

Others
are watching, and they see the moment of decision at hand.
Anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann of Stanford University has remarked that
"it is clear to an observer like me that evangelical Christianity is at a
crossroad." What is that crossroad? "The question of whether gay
Christians should be married within the church." Journalist Terry
Mattingly sees the same issue looming on the evangelical horizon: "There
is no way to avoid the
showdown that is coming."

Into this context now comes God and the Gay Christian,
a book by Matthew Vines. Just a couple of years ago, Vines made waves
with the video of a lecture in which he attempted to argue that being a
gay Christian in a committed same-sex relationship (and eventual
marriage) is compatible with biblical Christianity. His video went
viral. Even though Vines did not make new arguments, the young Harvard
student
synthesized arguments made by revisionist Bible scholars and presented a
very winsome case for overthrowing the church's moral teachings on
same-sex relationships.

His new book flows from that startling ambition-to overthrow two millennia of Christian moral wisdom and biblical understanding.

Given
the audacity of that ambition, why does this book deserve close
attention? The most important reason lies outside the book itself. There
are a great host of people, considered to be within the larger
evangelical movement, who are desperately seeking a way to make peace
with the moral revolution and endorse the acceptance of openly gay
individuals and couples within the life of the church. Given the
excruciating pressures now exerted on evangelical Christianity, many
people-including some high-profile leaders-are desperately seeking an
argument they can claim as both persuasive and biblical. The seams in
the evangelical fabric are beginning to break, and Vines now comes along
with a book that he claims will make the argument so many are seeking.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the WorldMag website.

------------

Notable Quote: We are playing within a reality that the left has constructed, and we have to step out of it."
--Mary Summerhays, Celebration of the Family, 2014

------------

Sin vs. Service: The Issue is Virtue
by Linda Harvey on Mission America

Why
are conservatives back-peddling on slam-dunk issues like freedom of
religion? Because we are being challenged on a core question which we
refuse to directly address.

And here it is: what about homosexual behavior? Good, evil, or neutral?

The
answer is that homosexuality is always wrong. Objective reasoning shows
us that skin color is unchangeable and that racial discrimination is
unjust. We can in the same way objectively reason that same sex
"marriage" is indefensible because
homosexual conduct itself is disordered for human beings.

Didn't Lawrence v Texas settle some of this? Not for those who still use truth as a benchmark.

We
aren't fighting to protect marriage because the term and tradition are
important. Let's be honest that the only reason for this dispute is
because people want to engage in anatomically-challenged behavior that
is observably unnatural, medically risky, improper as an example for
children, and changeable.

And it's a behavior that
God calls sin. There is no other biblical description of homosexuality except always and only, a big taboo.

So
in view of marriage law or public accommodations, could the immorality
of homosexuality be a rationale for refusing to honor same sex nuptials?
Absolutely, it should be. There are multiple grounds including but not
limited to religious faith. In most states where this was a dispute -
New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado, Illinois --- same sex marriage was not
even legal, and the couples had other options.

How
in the world do judges rule against photographers, bakers, and bed and
breakfast owners whose religious convictions also happen to
uphold state law? Only in a time of universal deceit, and their failure
to adhere to law is evidence their arguments are built on sand.

It's time to pull the curtain on this wizard, folks. Homosexuality itself is wrong.

The
constructed identity of being "gay" is harmful and should not be
considered a worthy defense in light of reality. The evidence clearly
points to the truth that everyone is intrinsically a heterosexual.

We need to have the guts to stand up and say so. Our
defense should not be because we Christians just hope to somehow preserve narrow rights over here in our holy huddle.

It's
because homosexuality is unnatural and unnecessary and the harm its
advocacy is doing to our culture is apparent to anyone with half a
brain, even atheists. Confusion abounds only because we won't state the
obvious.

And this doesn't even begin to cover the lunacy of "transgendered" behavior.

Click here to read
the remainder of this article on MissionAmerica website.

------------

Notable Quote: "Every appetite, desire, propensity and impulse of the
natural man may be overcome by and through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ."

Father Arrested at School Board Meeting for Speaking Against Pornography in 14-year-old Daughter's Reading Assignment
from religioushostility.org

A
New Hampshire parent was arrested at a Monday night school board
meeting after he voiced outrage his ninth grade daughter was assigned a
book that contains a page detailing a graphic sexual encounter.

Gilford
school officials claim the book, "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult,
contains important themes about a school shooting. But some parents
believe a scene described in the book is inappropriate for their
children.

According
to WCVB-TV, the book contains a graphic
description of rough sex between two teenagers, which parents were
unaware of until the book had already been distributed to their kids.

"I
was shocked when I read the passage and not much shocks me anymore,"
William Baer told EAG News. "My wife was stunned by the increasingly
graphic nature of the sexual content of the scene and the imagery it
evoked."

"It's absurd," he told the school board.

"Sir, would you please be respectful of the other people?" a school board member responded.

Here is a slim volume, laid out and expressed in a way unintimidating to teens of all ages, with just enough hard facts and common sense to counteract the dangerous lies GLSEN and many others have been irresponsibly spreading all these years and expose these homosexualists for the predators they are.

This book is for teens. Why? Because they are unwitting pawns getting caught in the unlimited sexuality juggernaut. Think about it. It’s only in the last decade or so that the words “gay youth” became commonplace. Homosexuals used to be thought of only as older people. It was an adult proclivity. Nobody even considered that teenagers, not to mention children, would care or know anything about the formerly unspeakable vice. Now gay youth is practically all we hear about. What has happened is a systematic sexualization of the innocent. Truth be told, gay activists do not really care what direction this early sexualization of human beings takes, as long as it’s early and totally unconnected to God and His rules for chastity and procreation. Linda quotes from a GLSEN manual for school teachers. “A person’s sexual behavior can be different from his or her sexual orientation. For example, some lesbians and gay men may have sex with members of the opposite gender due to desire . . . [or other factors].”

Indeed, gay is becoming passe. It is only a method to more madness. The spotlight is shifting to bisexuality, transgenderism, child-adult sex and more. In other words, what was wrong and harmful is getting even more so, and being modeled and taught to kids of all ages. A society that has lost its moral boundaries is primed to accept one wicked idea after another.

Sex isn’t for kids. Sex is serious and comes with complications. If it is misused somebody gets hurt. Is this sweeping sexualization of children and teens causing them undue stress? You bet it is, as Linda details. “‘You could grow up to be gay’ is the message now given to children in elementary school, creating a lot of emotional upheaval for many.” With this suggestion in the minds of youth, some will seek to prove they aren’t and others will experiment to see if they are. “It’s one of the reasons we are seeing early sexual relationships,” writes Linda. The ultimate stress translates into suicidality. Linda reiterates the fact that “suicide attempts are not lower in areas [of the world] where homosexuality is widely accepted. The numbers and incidents of risky behavior instead go up as homosexuality is allowed to fully blossom.”

In today’s world children are being taught it’s cool and right to proclaim some “alternative sexual identity,” to think of their parents as out of the loop, to turn to strangers for guidance. In fact, “‘LGBT’ books, clubs, articles and groups are out there strongly encouraging what is essentially a divorce from one’s parents,” taking advantage of natural youthful rebelliousness. Homosexuality, with modern society’s free pass, no possibility of pregnancy, and warnings of very real health risks absent, may be just another way to flaunt that youthful rebelliousness. This of course is inevitably justified, validated, and ingrained by ever-available same-sex pornography and gay associations, and leads to ever more harmful behaviors and consequences.

Where is the warning? With the exception of a few books like this one and a few grassroots groups which are marginalized by the culture, there is none. Even churches, the last bastians of true morality, are abdicating this sacred commission. Linda points out that “[s]ome churches have bought into this false information, and are adding to the stress by presenting openly homosexual adults as role models to youth, and otherwise giving an incomplete picture. They are also deliberately twisting the clear teaching of the Bible. It’s not fair to kids.”

But is it just those unfortunate kids who are drawn into homosexuality who are being duped? No. Those kids who escape homosexual experimentation and the high-risk lifestyle may be the ones encouraging it in others. Which means they are also pawns open to all sorts of wrong ideas and harmful choices. If gay kids can act out sexually, why can’t straight kids? It’s just another symptom of a generation that has lost its way.

Gay youth? There is no such thing. A more accurate description for “gay youth” is vulnerable young human beings, children of God, who have been one or more of the following: cruelly sexualized, fed lies, manipulated, indoctrinated, exposed to pornography, sexually abused, hurt, damaged, and exploited by older people who are out to get gain, gain that takes many selfish, nefarious forms.

The construction of “gay youth” is another example of how modern man has come to despise his own posterity. After all, the promotion of sterile, dangerous homosexual “sex” to children fits right in with the wholesale killing of children before they are even born. In other words, here’s something that not only won’t make more children but will shorten the lives of the rising generation.

It’s up to decent, responsible adults everywhere to rise up and defend the posterity of America against this harmful and disgusting new world that pushes sex on our young. One way to help is to make this book available to kids.

Thank you, Linda Harvey, for Maybe He’s Not Gay!

Click here to read another review of Maybe He's Not Gay written specifically for teens.

As the rock man told Oblio, people see what they want to see, people hear what they want to hear. The result of this purblindness is people refusing to acknowledge what's right in front of their noses if it goes against what they want to believe.

As the culture war marches insidiously on, the world around us, through every societal entity, is sending mixed messages. Two sides battle against each other. On the wrong side we have powers and principalities and, tragically, pawns who don't know they are being enslaved and exploited. On the right-ish side we have the ambushed unprepared, many who are running around like chickens with their heads cut off, merely doing damage control, even contradicting themselves, undermining each other, and in stark disagreement. People, especially impressionable young people, are getting the wrong messages, while others are maintaining the right ones.

Associates, fellow congregants, lifelong friends, family members, peers, teammates, young and old, ostensibly on the same side, suddenly find themselves aligned against each other, at school, at church, at lunch, during visiting teaching, coming home from a game on the bus. This is confusing and hurtful. So much for unity.

Yes, we are getting mixed messages from the right side, both correct and incorrect, both true and false, both from Christ and from the devil, either by the way we perceive them or by the unclear and/or contradictory way they are being presented. People who have taken the wrong side who nevertheless cling to their cultural church-going roots won't admit to the mixed messages. Holy scripture seems to have been relegated to the trash. They only see the messages they want to see. Then they throw those wrong messages into people's faces who are holding fast to the word of God.

Here's an example. We get very angry anonymous emails quoting the leaders of our Church to show that we at SoL are in opposition to the Church. These are people who hear the Brethren say something like: same-sex sexual attraction might be something you struggle with all your life, but ignore the word might. They celebrate the idea that the Church has embraced the gay identity. But the truth is, might is not an absolute; it is a qualifier. It implies there most definitely is also a might not. These people's thinking is obtuse. They are hearing only what they want to hear, which in turn validates and encourages wrong thinking and bad behavior.

We have to see this whole thing clearly if we are to hold to the rod, which is the word of God. The fact is, for whatever reason, people are not only perceiving but actually receiving watery and seemingly radically opposing mixed messages. Yes, this is a fact; we can lay them out to compare and contrast in black and white. Therefore we have a choice. Which message will we embrace?

Harold B. Lee, president and prophet, said, "The time is facing you right now when you will not be able to stand on borrowed light. You can only stand on the light you have by the witness of the Spirit."

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Notable Quote: "[I]mmoral . . . thoughts and feelings, regardless of their causes can and should be overcome and sinful behavior should be eliminated. This can be achieved through faith in God, sincere repentance, and persistent effort. The help of others may be needed. We commend and encourage those who are overcoming inappropriate thoughts and feelings. We plead with those involved in such behavior to forsake it. We love them and pray for them. We are confident that through repentance and obtaining needed help, they can experience the peace that comes from conforming their lives to God's teachings."--
UNDERSTANDING AND HELPING THOSE WHO HAVE HOMOSEXUAL PROBLEMS; Suggestions For Ecclesiastical Leaders, 1992, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Children’s Restrooms Are The Next Front Line In The Gender Wars
by Owen Strachan in The Federalist

The gender revolution will not be televised. Why? Because it is taking place in your local public bathroom.

It’s true: gender upheaval, coming soon to a commode near you. In Maine, the state Supreme Judicial Court found in a recent court case that a young woman described as transgender could enter male or female restrooms. In California, the state legislature passed a bill that gives students who self-identify as “transgender” the right “to participate in sex-segregated programs, activities and facilities,” including the use of restrooms of both sexes. As if using public restrooms wasn’t frightful enough!

The effect of these watershed developments in the water closet is hard to miss. Depending on their “gender expression,” boys and girls may now enter restrooms of the opposite sex as they see fit. These bizarre developments sound more like a dreaded group project in Gender Studies 101 than an act of the state. Gender revisionists have made a fuss about the “fluidity” of gender for years now, but their views have largely failed to penetrate mainstream American public life. All this is now changing.

In our enlightened new world, boys can shower with girls. They can enter a locker room of the opposite sex when they wish, and, provided they profess to be transgender, no one can stop them. This is true not only of teenagers, but kindergartners. The sexually curious no longer have a barrier to their exploration. Teachers cannot step in. Administrators cannot intervene. In public schools, per the will of the Maine judiciary and the California legislature, children no longer enjoy the protection our society has assumed as a matter of course.

Gender confusion is real. If you’ve been raised in a sexually compromised home, or if your father has been absent, you may well puzzle over what it means to be a man and a woman. In a country whose culture of marriage is collapsing, an increasing number of boys and girls will lack such basic parental wisdom. They’ll flirt with being transgender and have little compass for moral behavior as a boy or girl. It is tragic that legislators and judges, leaders appointed to protect children, are abetting and encouraging this confusion.

These measures in Maine and California are seemingly laudable. They have been handed down in the name of opposing bullying. Legislatures and courts should oppose bullying. But there is a palpable irony in these acts of the state. They have effectively bullied their citizens into accepting gender revisionism that compromises the privacy of their children and places them in hostile environments. This is as unnecessary as it is alarming. The public officials involved in both decisions seek to oppose injustice, but they are perpetuating it.

The Maine and California leaders do deserve points for creativity, however. Faced with an opportunity to stave off gender revisionists, they have instead created a new right. This is the right of all citizens, no matter how deviant, to enter any restroom, and of all teenage boys, no matter how sexually prurient, to shower with the girls. Behold America in 2014: you have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of “gender expression.”

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the Federalist website.

A lot is to be learned about the homosexual subculture from honest “gay” men like Walter Lee Hampton II [see his Facebook Page and YouTube site]. In this video, Hampton explains that pederasty–older men pursuing sex with underage boys–is some thing he has seen a lot of in his life as a homosexual. Here is his own description of the video, published February 8, 2014.

“Based upon my life experiences ..if I had Teenage sons I would NOT allow them around GAY MEN!..because over the years I have seen many GAY MEN pursue TEENAGE BOYS (ages 14-17) for SEX. and I have seen this VERY OFTEN.”

What Hampton is revealing helps us understand how teenage boys are contracting HIV. You might want to check out the comments at the YouTube page for his video HERE.

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Notable Quote: "It’s one thing . . . to acknowledge that some heaven-bound Christians may struggle with homosexual desires and even conduct, but an entirely different matter to condone and affirm a homosexual “orientation” as if God intended it to be one’s basis for self-identification."--Scott Lively, in WND article, 6/21/13
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Dr. Keith Ablow, M.D., has been the target of death threats for his view that so-called 'transgenderism' is unproven science that puts vulnerable children at risk of unnecessary surgical procedures and lifelong confusion.

But the Massachusetts-based psychiatrist told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview that he'll keep speaking out on the issue despite the dangers.

"I have had to make a decision about whether to say what I think and try to be empathetic to everyone, despite those threats and despite the calls from many people for me to be stripped of my academic credentials," Ablow told LifeSiteNews. "It's important to keep speaking out on this issue because, apparently, in America, there are thousands of children who are being prepared for extensive, life-changing plastic surgery who may or may not need it."

Ablow said that what causes a person to feel 'trapped in the wrong body' is a question that needs to be "reopened" by the psychiatric community. "We don't know as psychiatrists precisely where any fixed and false belief comes from," Ablow said. "And if it turns out that people who think they are locked in the wrong gender body could have been approached with something other than a scalpel, then we'll be responsible as a field for not having been more diligent in seeking those answers as to where this comes from."

Earlier this month, in the wake of a controversial new California law allowing public school students to choose their own gender - regardless of biology - when joining sports teams, activities and even using restroom and changing facilities, Ablow attracted national attention with an editorial for Fox News, calling the bill "profoundly damaging" to all children.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on LifeSiteNews website .

A.M. v. Taconic Hills Cent. Sch. Dist.,
510 Fed. Appx. 3 (2d Cir. 2013) (unpub. op.)
An eighth-grade student, the president of her class, wanted to include a sentence from the Old Testament in her graduation speech. The school told the student that she could not include the sentence because it was “too religious.” The Second Circuit upheld the school’s censorship, stating that a reasonable observer might perceive the student’s message as having been endorsed by the school.

Ward v. Polite,
667 F.3d 727 (6th Cir. 2012)
Julea Ward was expelled from Eastern Michigan University’s (“EMU”) graduate counseling program because she would not affirm homosexual conduct or heterosexual conduct outside of marriage to clients that she saw during the clinical portion of her program, instead referring these clients to another counselor. A federal district judge ruled against Ms. Ward, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed. Following the Sixth Circuit’s ruling in Ward’s favor, the case settled with EMU reinstating Ms. Ward and providing financial compensation to her.

Video: What Gay Marriage Has Done To Massachusetts
by Brian Camenker, Mass Resistance

Many people think "gay" marriage doesn't affect them. Wrong! There is a dramatic effect on our culture. The consequences of homosexual marriage: Most people have no idea what REALLY happens when "gay marriage" is imposed. This information-packed video from MassResistance gives you the extremely disturbing truth about what happened in Massachusetts.

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Notable Quote: "I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today."
-- Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003
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Judges redefine marriage in Utah
Bogus anti-discrimination bill filed in Utah legislature -
there IS something you can do!

We at Standard of Liberty are very concerned at the recent overreach by two activist federal judges who took it upon themselves to reach into the Utah Constitution and Utah law and declare both an amendment and a law to be unconstitutional. We, and others, insist that what both judges did is itself unconstitutional with regard to states' rights as contained in the United States Constitution. Following is some information we and Eagle Forum of Utah have put together that will help you understand where we stand, and what you can do to take a stand.

We need all Pro-Family Utahns who support Traditional Marriage to call the Governor today and ask him to remain firm in denying the validity of marriage licenses issued to homosexual couples while the appeal of the judge's ruling goes forward.

Plan to Attend an event in Support of Amendment 3, Utah's Constitutional Amendment that defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman . . date and location to be TBA.

We agree with Governor Herbert when he said, "I am very disappointed an activist federal judge is attempting to override the will of the people of Utah." Utah's constitutional marriage amendment passed in 2004 says, "marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman." District Court Judge Robert J. Shelby's unconstitutional ruling overturning Utah's marriage amendment will redefine marriage and will forever allow legal recognition of homosexual marriages in Utah if the State does not do something to stop it. More than 1300 marriage licenses have been issued to homosexual couples.

Utah's request to the courts for a stay of action was accepted by the Supreme Court after being denied by the district judge and the appeals court. Utah code (law) and constitution both say that marriage consists only of the legal union between a man and a woman and anything else is prohibited. Our elected legislators and the people overwhelmingly voted for these laws and the Federal Government has no jurisdiction over Utah's marriage laws. States issue and regulate marriage licenses, not the Federal Government.

We need to contact Governor Herbert and Attorney General Sean Reyes and ask them to appeal the ruling as far it needs to go. One radical activist judge does not have the authority to change Utah law by calling it unconstitutional. Where in the US Constitution's enumerated powers does it give the Federal Government power over marriage?

Call Governor Herbert today at 801-538-1000, follow-up with an email to garyherbert@utah.gov expressing your concerns and ask him to uphold Utah law by appealing the judge's ruling all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Also call Attorney General Sean Reyes with the same message at 801-538-9600 or 801-366-0300. You can email him at uag@utah.gov.

Thomas Jefferson said, "Whenever the federal government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void and of no force." (Kentucky Resolution, 1798)
Alexander Hamilton said, "Acts of the [federal government] which are not pursuant to its constitutional powers . . will be merely acts of usurpation, and will deserve to be treated as such."
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." -- Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

On page two of his decision Judge Shelby states, "The question presented here depends... on the Constitution itself, and on the interpretation of that document contained in binding precedent from the Supreme Court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals." In the above statement, Judge Shelby argues that when determining whether or not a state's law is unconstitutional the court must look not only to the language of the Constitution itself, but also previous decisions made by the court (case law) that have established a precedent. But previous precedents set by the court or by a single activist judge such as Judge Shelby are subjective and not necessarily reflective of the original intent of the framers of the Constitution.

In his 53-page decision, Judge Shelby relies largely on precedent set in previous court decisions and not language found in the Constitution itself to justify his ruling. He conveniently left out previous rulings that have established a precedent that would disagree with his ruling in the Utah case. The Constitution and the original intent of the Founders are completely ignored as activists judges rewrite the Constitution through case law and the precedent it establishes. Homosexual marriage laws do not allow equal justice, they provide special rights to a "special class" of people.

This issue is not about discrimination, it is about Religious liberty -- The liberty of a people to define marriage according to God's law.
Reverend Billy Graham's statement on marriage, "The Bible is clear - God's definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops statement on marriage, "Marriage is a faithful, exclusive and lifelong union between one man and one woman, joined as husband and wife in an intimate partnership of life and love."
"For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words-they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels." --1 Nephi 19: 7
"Once darkened, a society loses its capacity to distinguish between right and wrong and the will to declare that some things are wrong per se. Without the lamp our world finds itself desperately building temporary defenses, drawing new lines, forever falling back, unwilling to confront. A society which permits anything will evenutally lose everything."
--Neal A. Maxwell, Deny Yourself of All Ungodliness, Ensign 1995
"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act." --Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy.

We cannot just sit back and do nothing, the people must let their voice be heard.

Equally as important, Senate Bill 100, the Anti-discrimination bill, has been filed with the Utah legislature. It is a dangerous piece of work, and must be killed in the Rules Committee. The measure is aimed at prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing and employment practices. In addition, it addresses workplace dress and grooming standards and shared restroom facilities. Attorney Bill Duncan said providing protections for a person's sexual orientation or gender identity would be a "significant shift from anything we've done in Utah in the past." And, he said, it opens the door to same-sex marriage. "In every state that has same-sex marriage, a sexual orientation law came first," he said. "In states where courts have required same-sex marriage like Massachusetts and Iowa and the others, they've all pointed to the existence of these laws as one of the pieces in the puzzle that makes them decide." Please take the time to call the people listed below and let them know you expect them to use their influence to stop Senate Bill 100 in its tracks.

Everyone who receives this email must do 7 things:

Call and email the Governor now!

Call and email the Utah Attorney General's Office!

Call and email your state Senator and Representative AND Leadership of both the House and the Senate (see contact information below) Ask them to do all they can to support traditional marriage in Utah!

Forward the email to everyone you know, tell them you have called the Governor and the AG and ask your friends to do the same right away!

Call your friends and relatives in other states and ask them to get involved. This same law suit will spread from state to state until homosexual marriage is forced on every state in the nation if "we the people" do not do all we can to stop it!

Attend and bring friends to the Protect Amendment 3 Event on date TBA.

And most important Pray that our leaders will have the courage and the wisdom to stop the issuing of marriage licenses to homosexual couples.

Days after hundreds of gay and lesbian couples swarmed county offices to get Utah marriage licenses, a group originally founded to help Mormons eliminate same-sex attraction closed its doors.
[Evergreen never stressed eliminating the attractions. It only stressed "diminishing' attractions. Its dissolution could be a result of the reported withdrawal of the LDS Church's financial support.]

Before doing so, Evergreen International turned over some of its resources and mailing lists - said to number up to 30,000 participants, including many from Spanish-speaking countries - to a newer LDS-based gay support group, North Star.
[It appears that the people who started North Star are LDS in name only. From what we can tell, they do not espouse the True Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is founded on faith, repentance,and redemption.]

Combining the two groups, organizers say, will create "the largest single faith-based ministry organization for Latter-day Saints who experience same-sex attraction or gender-identity incongruence and will also provide increased access to resources for church leaders, parents, family and friends."
[This is a disaster. It is like the wicked leading the blind. Their resources are designed to sentimentalize, normalize and cement homosexuality in individuals and the LDS culture. The LDS SSA movement has capitalized on the sexual activist movement taking place in our national/world culture, benefiting from it and using some of the same tactics found in the notorious volume used for successfully overhauling straight America, After the Ball.]

The scale and scope of the challenges facing this community "can sometimes be overwhelming," North Star board chairman Jeff Bennion writes in a news release, "which is why I am thrilled that so many of the strong and experienced associates of Evergreen will be standing even more unitedly with us."
[Community? This is pro-gay propaganda at its height. The only 'community' they can be talking about is one of people who are preoccupied with a particular sinful proclivity. We could all create and belong to one of those, but truly Christian people do not identify themselves by, or organize themselves according to their lusts; they privately strive to overcome them.]

Evergreen President David Pruden, who could not be reached Thursday for comment, will not be joining North Star's leadership but will continue as executive director of the National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality. Preston Dahlgren, Evergreen's chairman, will become a member of North Star's board. [Again, neither Evergreen or Northstar are on the right track.]

As to the question of changing or diminishing sexual orientation, North Star takes no position, says the group's newly named president, Ty Mansfield.
[No surprise. The concepts of "sin" and "repentance" are not in North Star's vocabulary. Humble and true repentance from one's sinful nature-the mighty change of heart- is the key factor in overcoming miserable,unwanted homosexual desire and activity, or any other out-of-bounds temptations and sins. This anti-repentance philosophy is shared by all the numerous anti-Christs in the Book of Mormon. It is clear, underneath all the emotional stories, clever words and endless flattery, that homosexuality as a permanent identity is being promoted by North Star.]

The Wise Man Built His House Upon a Rock
by Janice Graham

In Primary we sing a song about the wise man building his house on a rock. I have visited a house actually built on a giant red rock in Moab, Utah. It felt awfully solid. Here at SoL we try to build all of our information on solid truth. That's why it's astounding when we get comments, not criticizing our facts but criticizing us personally. These detractors apparently think that because we are offering an opposing worldview about a certain huge and growing issue in our culture today certainly worthy of curiosity, if not intense study, we need professional help..

There are innumerable issues one can learn about, be passionate about, write about, speak about, meet about, converse about, even lend one's personal resources to. People give their precious time, energy, and money to innumerable causes, from saving the whales to researching shrimp running on treadmills. Why is the truth about homosexuality the one issue people must be "sick" to care about?

What causes certain young people (we figure our most vocal detractors are under 30) to take on an entire culture? What causes them to demonize people who share their deeply-held, life-long, generational, God-based belief systems regarding sexual morality? What causes them to wish to silence and punish people for expressing these religious convictions as per human rights guaranteed by the Constitution? What makes them think moral, religious people want their children exposed and indoctrinated toward homosexualism and transgenderism in school? What made them build their house on sand?

These young people (and plenty of older people are going along with them) have exceeded the normal limits of youthful know-it-allism. In an overly prosperous culture that foolishly worships, indulges, and spoils youth, many have been pretty much brainwashed into thinking the rising generation is somehow smarter and better than the generations before, that they should be able to attack and vilify the wisdom of the ages, biological reality, and God Himself and get away with it. What brashness is this? What arrogance? What ignorance?

I submit that our sophomoric detractors, young and older, are products of an age of distorted values and misinformation. Trained to give up their agency to others, untrained in the power to think critically, and unwilling to put forth the effort to be personally converted to their religion, they have been unthinking followers all their lives and as such are primed to take up with any shiny cause that comes along. This is the sort of house that sooner or later washes away.

No wonder so many people today are so miserable that they escape into dark, self-destructive paths, never feeling true peace or lasting comfort. They are ignorant of history, truth, wisdom, knowledge, good vs. evil, the real Christ, and real human nature. God's plan aside, they don't even have a modicum of understanding of the condition of mankind, what mankind has done and will always do, and of mankind's never-ending need for a Savior. Therefore they are thrown for a loop at every turn, surprised, disillusioned, despairing, yearning, angry, bitter, arrogant, and wanting others to share in their misery.

What they need is a little humility, and they could also benefit from some real education, that is, knowledge. I became an autodidact years ago when I realized in mid-life that my formal education had huge gaping holes in it. (I tried going back to school, but found much of university "education" today is taught by those described in the above paragraph, and consists of distorted material appealing to arbitrary rules and fleeting human emotions rather than transmitting actual knowledge, besides being discriminatory against critical thinking. I did, however, appreciate the very few professors who stuck to knowledge and sense.) Taking my education upon myself, I got a book called The Lifetime Reading Plan (Fadiman and Major), essentially a long book list and chronological guide to classic world literature, for my outline, taking some from other book lists and guides as well. I began with Homer (800 B.C.) and am now up to reading from the 17th century: Bunyan, Locke, Defoe, Swift, Voltaire. And when I finally complete reading through this formal list, I'll begin it again; it became obvious to me that only one reading of the works of Euripides, St. Augustine, Dante, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Descartes, Milton, Pascal, etc., is not nearly enough for me.What a feast of human experience and thought! Of battles, of quests, of sacrifice and of selfishness, of beauty and of ugliness, of faith and of unbelief, of right and of wrong, of consequences, of gained wisdom, of oftentimes painful truth, and of hearts that change.

And let's not forget the literary and educational value of the best-selling book in the world, the Bible, and the glorious Book of Mormon, which I added to my list. (The Koran, Buddhist, and Hindu writings are also on my list; I found they could not in any way compete with the Bible and Book of Mormon.) In the midst of my classical reading marathon I found that Holy Scripture blows everything else out of the water. Not only is it full of stunning literature and transcendent truth, it supplies the greatest education on human nature and, of course, God. The word of God gives a person essential knowledge, perspective, humility, purpose, and truth, if those things are what one seeks, which in turn ground and comfort. No longer is that person tossed to and fro by every personal anxiety or need, or this or that philosophy, trend, or travesty. One learns to trust solely in the Lord rather than focusing on their own emotions or understanding of a given situation, even if that understanding is sadly correct.

This is the difference between ignorance and wisdom, bitterness and peace, building on sand or on rock. Mankind is always one generation away from destroying itself. The way things are rapidly degrading, you wonder if the current rising generation is that one. As Robert Bork warned (along with all prophets of God), the only thing that will save our society is if the people as one body rise up in a huge revival of religion and morality, or in other words, mass repentance.

Because mankind is sinful, and because Christ will redeem all who will come to him in humility, and because Christ is the author of all that is true and right and good, the original author of the wisdom of the ages I have been enjoying getting acquainted with, and because the world is intent on building on sand and threatens to wash me away with it, I keep this scripture in my head and heart:

"And now my sons, remember, remember, that it is upon the rock of our redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation, that when the devil shall send forth his mighty wind, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless woe, because of the foundation upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation upon which if men build they cannot fall." Helaman 5:12

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Notable Quote: "In the early stages of the campaign, the public should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex per se should be downplayed, and the issue of gay rights reduced, as far as possible, to an abstract social question."
--Kirk, Marshall and Hunter Madsen, Ph.D., "Strategy: Persuasion, not invasion," in After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s, Doubleday: New York, 1989, pg. 178.)
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If same-sex sexual attractions alone are not sinful and do not make one unworthy before the Church and before God (as goes the argument), how about these other types of sexual attractions? We've come up with some glib new gay-like names for them. Let's define them, starting with gay, and include some of their "former" descriptions.

Gay: people being sexually attracted to people of their same sex (also called SSA, formerly called unnatural lust, wickedness, sexual disorder/addiction, homosexuality)

Bay: people being sexually attracted to other people regardless of anybody's biological sex (formerly called unnatural lust, wickedness, sexual disorder/addiction, bisexuality, homosexuality)

Tray: people insisting they are really supposed to be the opposite of their biological sex and then being sexually attracted to those of their same biological sex (formerly called mental illness, transvestite, transsexual, transgendered, homosexuality)

May: people being sexually attracted to animals (formerly called iniquity, filthiness, bestiality)

And apparently there are even more "ays. " In addition, they often interconnect, such as pay linking to gay, day, fay, ray, or gay linking to fay, bay, say, etc. Like King Benjamin said, we cannot name them all.

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Notable Quote: "The world largely ignores the first and great commandment-to love God-but talks a lot about loving their brother (Matt. 22:37-40). They worship at the altar of man. Would Nephi have slain Laban if he had put the love of neighbor above the love of God? Would Abraham have taken Isaac up for a sacrifice if he had put the second commandment first? The attitude of the world is reflected in a phrase of falsehood that reads, "Presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man." But only those who know and love God can best love and serve his children, for only God fully understands his children and knows what is best for their welfare. Therefore, one needs to be in tune with God to best help his children . . . . Therefore, if you desire to help your fellowmen the most, then you must put the first commandment first. When we fail to put the love of God first, we are easily deceived by crafty men who profess a great love of humanity, while advocating programs that are not of the Lord."--Ezra Taft Benson, October 1967
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From Our Readers
Here are comments sent by some of our SoL subscribers:

"[C]ommon sense . . . doesn't take a lot of words to show that marriage is a compact between opposites to produce offspring, without which civilization dies. And the 2nd point is that children need both polarities of the sexes to mature in a way where they won't have so many hang-ups."
---
"This is so refreshing I sigh with relief, that I'm not alone. But not only that, because I heard the truth and it was delicious!"
---
"I was glad to hear about the Kinsey stuff because [a friend] has told me about this before and it sounded a little off, but I didn't know what to point to in response. I'm excited to research this a little more. Very few people today will have the honesty to say this is really about homosexuality. The farther it goes though, it's going to come down to that inescapable fact."
---
"The day after the Supreme Court ruling on marriage, the head of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) flew to Salt Lake city and promised that we would have gay marriage here within 5 years. Utah's position on marriage and gender now becomes a focal point in a national strategy for gay marriage.

The first and simplest route to achieve this goal is Utah's non-discrimination bill, or ENDA. This bill redefines gender in law, making gender an emotional state, rather than a biological one. Those who disagree could face criminal prosecution. [Ed.: Turns out judicial fiat was the route they took. See Janice Graham's SoL Voice, Three Dreadful Things and The Good News.]

This law, if passed, would create a plethora of new challenges for society.

For example: How can we provide children privacy in public restrooms, or school locker rooms? How can parents and students opt out of educational sexual content endorsed by the state? How will marriage law and divorce courts continue to protect every child's right to have both a mother and a father? How will churches and businesses that disagree maintain their freedom of speech and religion? And ultimately, how can traditional marriage continue if gender is emotional?"
---
"Like you, I doubt a man can openly proclaim to be gay and remain faithful to his wife. The very act of proclaiming to be gay is unfaithful. Any married Mormon man who announced his sexual attraction to a single sister or a woman other than his wife would be called into the Bishop's office and called to repentance without delay."
---
"Amen. And, so why haven't [the leaders of the "mixed-orientation marriage" movement] been called in and called to repentance? And one more thing, a man probably should get some good professional counseling from one such as Dr. Jeff Robinson, who has the Atonement as the basis of his counseling. Bishops are good for encouragement, pointing to repentance and the Lord's Atonement etc., but are completely unprepared to help most out of the mental/emotional snare of homosexuality."
---
"Good work as always! Never give up! You have too important of a message. I try to think of others I can share your message with. Most members [of the LDS Church] just don't care about it, though. I am going to a [pornography] conference this Saturday . . . Not that I know any pornography addicts, I just feel it is my societal duty to be as informed as possible with this ever-increasing plague."

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Notable Quote: "The term tolerance has now become code for acceptance of homosexual behavior and rejection of Judeo-Christian sexual ethics."
--Alan Sears, 2006
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Elementary School Student Punished for Praying Before Meals
Joan Little, "City Schools Issue Rules About Students, Religion," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 11, 1996, at 2B Elementary school student Raymond Raines was "caught" praying over his meal at his elementary school. He was lifted from his seat and reprimanded in front of the other students, then taken to the principal who ordered him to cease praying in school.
State: Missouri

Schultz v. Medina Valley I.S.D.
Angela Hildenbrand, valedictorian of her class at Medina Valley High, wanted to say a prayer during her graduation ceremony. A fellow student from an agnostic family filed a suit to prevent Hildenbrand from praying. The federal district court judge issued an order prohibiting Hildenbrand from using words like "Lord," "in Jesus' name," and "amen." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the ruling and allowed the prayer. On June 6, 2011, Hildenbrand gave her speech, which included a prayer.
State: Texas

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Notable Quote: A health text for high school freshmen in Massachusetts suggests, "Testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in your early teens with people of your own sex. . . . You may come to the conclusion that growing up means rejecting the values of your parents."
--from an Alliance Defense Fund publication, 2006
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SoL Attends Conservative Rallies

Recently SoL has attended rallies addressing conservative issues. In Provo, Utah, a meeting was held to educate on the dangers of "gay" nondiscrimination laws. Click here to watch the 2-minute Fox13 video. SoL's Janice Graham is on video making a comment at the 52-second mark. In Orem, Utah, a rally was held to support traditional marriage. Click here to read the Deseret News article. Stephen Graham is pictured in conversation in the article. In Highland, Utah, Sheriff Rick Mack spoke in support of states rights and traditional marriage. Click here to read the Free Patriot article. Click here to see the Fox13 coverage.

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Notable Quote: "The number one issue for the family today is the homosexual activist agenda."
--Dr. James Dobson, 2002
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'It Is a Choice': Famed Boxer Evander Holyfield Incites International Anger Over His Comments Against Homosexuality
by Billy Hallowell in The Blaze

Retired boxer Evander Holyfield has sparked international anger after publicly airing his opposition to homosexuality.

The 51-year-old athlete, who is currently starring on "Celebrity Big Brother" in the U.K., recently said on the show that being gay isn't normal, that "it is a choice" and that same-sex attraction can be fixed.

The conversation that sparked international debate - and a reprimand from "Big Brother" producers - unfolded when his co-star Luisa Zissman, an entrepreneur, was chatting with Holyfield about homosexuality and athletics during Sunday's episode, The Daily Mail reported.

"I think it's really bad that no-one stands up and says it in the sporting industries," Zissman said of the failure of some gay boxers to "come out." "I think it's good to be open about that because it's normal."

Holyfield, though, disagreed.

"What would be good about it? … That ain't normal," he said of homosexuality.

From there, the conversation became somewhat contentious, with Zissman noting that she didn't think the chat should continue. Regardless, the debate progressed.

"If you were born and your leg were turned this way, what do you do, you go to the doctor and get it fixed back right," Holyfield said of homosexuality.

But Zissman countered the notion that same-sex attraction is fixable, claiming that "it's not a choice."

"Yes it is a choice, come on," Holyfield rebutted.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on The Blaze website.

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December 28, 2013In This Issue:Three Dreadful Things and The Good News: SOL Year-End MessageImmoral Activities by School TeachersClassic SoL Blog post: Gay Love?From Our ReadersDear A&E, congratulations, you just committed suicide, by Matt Walsh
Why
Being Called 'Evil' is a Kindness, by Matt Barber
Obamacare 'Gay" Christmas Video, by Jerome Corsi
Truth is 'Hate' to Those Who Hate Truth, by Matt Barber

Three Dreadful Things and The Good News
Year-End Message from SoL 2013

Three dreadful things happened this past week, two quite close to home. We’ll outline them and then testify of the good news that transcends all.

Number One. A Utah federal judge named Waddoups, who is active LDS, ruled that certain portions of Utah’s polygamy law are unconstitutional. Waddoups made this ruling referencing the fourteenth amendment (equal access under the law). This is bogus because marriage is already accessible to all willing man-woman couples. The upshot of Waddoups’s ruling is that the practice of polygamy (group conjugal living) is suddenly perfectly legal in the state of Utah. He got around Utah's marriage amendment definition by avoiding the issue of a marriage license. Yet he refers to polygamists as married, so apparently, people can be legally married in Utah now without a marriage license. Incredibly, Waddoups has taken it upon himself to redefine marriage contrary to the will of the state. He also referenced the two disastrously immoral rulings of the Supreme Court this past June relative to the Defense of Marriage Act, which decided that marriage isn’t confined to a man-woman union, that is, it must include same-sex marriage. Because of the above reasons the judge used for his ruling, this is another step down that slippery slope toward sexual anarchy we have been warned about. When God’s definition of marriage is abandoned as in the Supreme Court decision, anything goes. Polygamy may turn out to be the least of our worries–at least it’s biologically sound. (There are a lot of other problems that come with this development, particularly for LDS, that may come to mind.)

Number Two. It’s funny. We were babysitting two infant grandkids the other night and decided to check out the wildly popular show, Duck Dynasty to pass the time. We knew practically nothing about it until we popped in our Netflix DVD and laughed out lout at the in-your-face, deadpan, bold political incorrectness in between consoling fussy babies. Days later, Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson’s statements from a months-old magazine interview hit the news and stayed there. So much has been said about it that we hardly need to add anything. (Some good articles are included in this newsletter.) Suffice it to say, it wouldn’t have mattered how Robertson expressed his Biblical beliefs warning against sexual immorality (he mostly quoted the Bible itself), he would have been publicly attacked all the same by the fascistic gay community and its supporters. We know this from personal experience. In the mainstream culture, God is out, sin is in. If you call sin sin you are the only sinner, while all the people approving, producing, spreading, and performing promiscuous, risky, perverse sex are the saints. To borrow from Robert Bork’s warning in his prophetic book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, on a societal scale traditional morality is being harmed while many forms of sexual immorality are being preferred. This is the undeniable trajectory we are witnessing.

Note: As we publish this newsletter, the news is that both A&E and Cracker Barrel have reversed their decisions to punish Duck Dynasty, apparently due to public outcry (follow the money?). If only the few instances like this we witness (Chick-fil-A) were enough to reverse this trajectory! As homosexuality is increasingly pushed through media, courts, schools, etc., it is obvious which way the wind is generally blowing. It looks like we are one bearded, chicken-eating generation away from the total homosexualization of society, or worse.

Number Three. Another federal judge in Utah, Shelby, took it upon himself to invalidate Utah’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a male and female adult thereby legalizing same-sex marriage. Here we have another abuse of power. This is not within a judge’s authority. And yet for all practical purposes, the deed is done. Ask anybody: Utah was supposed to be the last state in the union to celebrate sodomy in the form of pretend mating/marriage, and here it is number 18. But of course this has occurred not by the consent of the people but by a bad judge. Still, perhaps we Utahns are at fault because we did nothing, at least not recently, to stop the acceptance of homosexuality. All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, said Edmund Burke. But wait, we have done something, something wrong. Utah with all its resources and highly influential organizations and entities has done too many things in the last few years that actually encourage this form of immorality, even in youth. We approve and even dignify it in our families and our schools and our congregations and our legislatures and our media. We even parade it in our streets. In the wake of this ruling, as same-sex couples lined up to be “married” while authorities, news reporters, families, and friends celebrated, you could quite accurately call our capitol Sodom Lake City.

The good news? This is all temporary! Yes! We aren’t here in this crazy place forever! The best is yet to come.

A favorite scripture of many is Proverbs 3:5-6. Here at SoL we have been pondering especially the phrase, “Trust in the Lord . . . and lean not unto thine own understanding . . .” We used to think that meant that our own understanding wasn’t worth anything. That may be true about some things. We may have wrong ideas that need continual correcting. But it can mean something else, too. Of course there are some things we certainly can understand accurately. There is reality, there are facts, there are events we witness with our own eyes and ears. Although we may not do it perfectly because of our human flaws, we can access the Holy Ghost to teach us the truth of all things. So this may mean that even when we are confronted with cold, hard facts, even when things are going very badly, even when we see loved ones fall, even when there is no denying that Satan is currently having his vengeful way with God’s world, we must still lean on the Lord rather than putting our energy into our own intellect, emotions, and senses. In fact, it’s a huge, amazing opportunity to show where we will put our trust. The more opposition, the greater the test. We love this. It means that while we understand something perfectly we must make the Lord our God. It means we must take our own fretful feelings out of the equation. This is how to find equanimity in an upside-down world: wrench our hearts away from worldly events (although we see and know them for what they are) and rely on the wisdom and love of God. All this opposition, all this agency people are exercising, all this damage man is doing to himself and others, all of it is essential to God’s plan. The one thing we have total control over is what goes on in our hearts. The more clearly we see what is going on in our own flawed selves and all around us, the greater our need for faith in and reliance on the Lord. And that humble reliance is a very good thing with eternal significance.

For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

Whatever good we may think we do, our eternity depends on what goes on inside us. We must believe in God’s Love, and be convinced of our sins and the redeeming power of Christ. We must increase our faith in the Lord and hope for eternal life. We say, let’s go for it! And share this good news with your loved ones and everyone else you can.

I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. 2 Nephi 33:6

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Steve and Janice Graham at Standard of Liberty.

The following is written by a guest SoL contributor who prefers to remain anonymous.

Immoral Activities by School Teachers

When immoral activities by school teachers surface, news agencies tend to report it. Below are six such reports. Five of them involve female teachers who engaged in racy conduct outside the classroom and were terminated, and where appealed, the termination was upheld. In contrast, the sixth report involves a gay teacher’s racy conduct outside the classroom, which was treated differently.

1.Shortly after the school year started in the fall of 2013, some students in the Dallas Independent School District found out that their Spanish teacher had a revealing past. Christy Nicole Deweese had been “Coed of the Month” for Playboy in February 2011. When school officials learned of this, she was promptly suspended and, shortly thereafter, terminated.

2.In Florida in 2009, Tiffany Shephard was terminated when racy bikini photos of her were discovered online. She was terminated, and then began appearing in pornographic videos.

3.Also in Florida in 2013, Olivia Sprauer was terminated when racy bikini photos of her surfaced. She was also terminated and she also began posing for nude photo shoots.

4.In California in November 2012, a school teacher, Stacy Halas, was fired when her students found out that she had starred in several hard core porn films. She challenged her dismissal arguing that what she did was not illegal. In January 2013, the Oxnard District Commission on Professional Competence ruled on her appeal. It reasoned that teachers are role models and that schools have discretion in determining what is fitness-to-teach and moral conduct. In considering the assertion from Ms. Halas that performing in pornographic videos was legal, the Commission reasoned, “[w]hile our laws are often founded in morality, not all legal acts are moral . . . . Although society has determined that engaging in sexual acts in exchange for money is immoral and illegal (See e.g. Penal Code 647), case law has established that, if that sexual activity is filmed for viewing by persons other than the participants, this may render the paid sexual activity legally-protected expression. Nevertheless, this legality does not, ipso facto, render the conduct moral. Therefore, Respondent’s (Halas’) argument that her conduct was legal is neither conclusive nor persuasive in determining whether it was immoral.” The termination was upheld by the Commission.

5.Similarly, near Quebec, Canada, Julie Gagnon was terminated as a high school secretary when her pornographic past was discovered.

6.In Florida, the Miami-Dade County School District terminated a substitute teacher, Shawn Loftis, when his past making and acting in hard core gay porn films was discovered. In a decision dated April 4, 2012, the Florida Education Practices Commission overturned his termination, reasoning that his pornographic past was not illegal. Findings that his pornographic past seriously reduced his effectiveness as a teacher were not accepted.

What is it about our society that would cause it to condemn straight female teachers for racy, nude and pornographic photos and videos, but condone equally pornographic gay videos of a male teacher? Plainly, the vast majority of parents want schools to employ teachers who will not only effectively teach facts and figures, but also inspire noble and uplifting character traits. Our society needs to ensure that schools are a haven where the best for our children is nurtured and modeled. Our society should require all who choose to allow the public display of racy, nude and pornographic materials of themselves to seek employment away from our children. Schools are justified in terminating teachers for allowing the display of nude and revealing photos. Schools should terminate teachers who have displayed pornographic videos, even gay porn.

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SoL Quote: "We may safely study and learn about the theories and philosophies of men, but if they contradict the plan of redemption, the great plan of happiness, do not "buy into" them as truth. If you do, you may be putting a mortgage on your testimony, on your knowledge of premortal life, on the creation of man, on the Fall and the Atonement, on your Redeemer, the Resurrection, and exaltation; for "every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up" (Matthew 15:13). If you "buy into" the philosophies of men, you may have your testimony repossessed. Your respect for moral law may go with it, and you will end up with nothing."--Boyd K Packer,
"The Great Plan of Happiness and Personal Revelation," 1993
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Gay Love?by Janice Graham, 3/4/2013

“How can anyone wish to deny a gay person love?” is a common question with a false premise. The fact is, no one is trying to deny anyone love. All are free to love whomever they want to. What God and traditional morality discourage is harmful out-of-bounds sexual lust and behavior.

The truth is, love is all around. And all kinds of love should be nonsexual, except one. In the one case when love does include sexuality, it should always be associated with mating, and therefore marriage. Two people of the same sex cannot mate, and therefore cannot marry in the true sense of the word.

This does not mean two people of the same sex cannot love each other. On the contrary, people of the same sex can share the greatest love and devotion. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers, sisters, cousins, friends, compatriots, comrades in arms, teammates, co-workers, peers, teachers and their students. History and literature are filled with such love. (See the 1960 film Spartacus for a great example in the scene when Spartacus proves his love for Antoninus.) As Jesus said, there is no greater love than a man laying down his life for a friend, which love he himself exemplified in the highest degree. C. S. Lewis in The Four Loves pointed out that true friendship is the purest, most selfless form of love in part because there is nothing like sexuality involved. (This is why spouses who are also best friends have the best of both worlds.)

Granted, a homosexual relationship between two people could begin with sincere and deep friendship. There is nothing so wonderful as two kindred spirits discovering each other, that they share interests and beliefs along with enjoying each other's company to the exclusion of everybody else. But the moment same-sex love becomes sexualized, it is corrupted and compromised. Whether our culture will honestly admit it or not, homosexuality, in principle or in practice, promiscuous or monogamous (which includes sodomy), is wrong and harmful. Anyone championing homosex and/or participating in it knows this in his heart of hearts. And true friends would never willingly bring any sort of harm upon each other.

When the above question (How can anyone wish to deny a gay person love?) is asked by gays or their supporters, the pure love of friendship is not even considered. Where today's gays are concerned, great love must include sex, which is a dangerous idea; it would follow that all truly loving human relationships are essentially sexual. Of course a few wicked people already thought of this and there are some who believe this nonsense today.

But we believe that the average unthinking homosexualist (this includes both those who embrace it personally and those who celebrate it in others) is only a pawn. Such people have been fooled into equating sex and love. As such, the word love is used as a distraction from the real objective. Whether they realize it or not, what the above question really means is, “How can anyone wish to deny a person gay sex?” Simplest answer: Because it's harmful.

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SoL Quote: "The world largely ignores the first and great commandment—to love God—but talks a lot about loving their brother (Matt. 22:37-40). They worship at the altar of man. Would Nephi have slain Laban if he had put the love of neighbor above the love of God? Would Abraham have taken Isaac up for a sacrifice if he had put the second commandment first? The attitude of the world is reflected in a phrase of falsehood that reads, "Presume not God to scan, the proper study of mankind is man." But only those who know and love God can best love and serve his children, for only God fully understands his children and knows what is best for their welfare. Therefore, one needs to be in tune with God to best help his children . . . . Therefore, if you desire to help your fellowmen the most, then you must put the first commandment first. When we fail to put the love of God first, we are easily deceived by crafty men who profess a great love of humanity, while advocating programs that are not of the Lord."–Ezra Taft Benson, October 1967
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From Our ReadersHere are comments sent by some of our SoL subscribers:

"Janice Graham's "The Marriage Debate: Too Little, Too Late" is important. Our society must have a general consensus on what homosexuality is. It is a psychological-moral disorder, and any other view of it must not be entrenched in law. We must claim the real science. We must make our voice one even the media cannot ignore. I propose a campaign of mass [campaign] with a view to influencing the November elections . . . From there, we can build and put a real conservative in the White House in 2016. GayScam can be ended by 2021, if the people are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. A significant number of citizens, acting as one, can turn the tide. We must be utterly unyielding on this point.

Sexual politics drive the myth of the normal "gay" and "transgender." See, among other works, Charles Socarides's "Sexual Politics and Scientific Logic: The Issue of Homosexuality." Radical feminist law professor Mary Ann Case, in her 2010 article "What Feminists Have to Lose in Same-Sex Marriage Litigation," writes, "To grant civil marriage licenses to couples regardless of their sex would be to eliminate the last vestige of sex stereotyping from the law of marriage in the United States. .... [The] thin view [of marriage] reduces legal sex ... to little more than the basis for a claim of discrimination .... [A] thin view of civil marriage makes it a legal shell that couples can fill with their own normative meaning and internal structure ...." She has also written, in her 1998 "Unpacking Package Deals: Separate Spheres Are Not the Answer," that I would be neither particularly surprised nor particularly disappointed if masculinity and femininity as we today define them were to be amalgamated, to be diversified, or to wither away in future generations." This is just nuts. Contrary to liberal cultural brainwashing, these conditions are deep-seated psychological disorders that are preventable and treatable. See, at www.narth.com, "Fathers of Male Homosexuals," "The Meaning of Same-Sex Attraction," "Gay as Self-Reinvention," and "Attachment Loss and Grief Work in Reparative [Ex-Gay] Therapy.""
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"Wow, you do not pull your punches. Your honesty in the latest one (blog post) is frighteningly true. I just read your last two. I agree with you, although I have been on a learning curve, I am getting quicker though. I'm coming in to the light.

It is interesting how deep the indoctrination goes. We think we are stepping up and standing against it, and we haven't even scratched the surface. Ironically, my husband basically just got put on probation at his work for using it as a venue for "homophobic activism."

Your point about the Kinsey scale is fascinating, I have heard him refer[ed] to many times before. Sadly, if my memory is correct, [a BYU publication about homosexuality has promoted the Kinsey Scale,] one error of several I have seen from that source lately.

BTW, I have to confess, I was very glad to have the book Captain of My Soul, it explained a lot, and helped me understand [a male relative] who was born loving pink. As was so articulately stated in the book, young kids are so sensitive to sex, sometimes it is suprisingly small things, even positive things, that can set them in an inappropriate direction.
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I was glad to hear about the Kinsey stuff because [my husband] has told me about this before and it sounded a little off, but I didn't know what to point to in response. I'm excited to research this a little more. Very few people today will have the honesty to say this is really about homosexuality. The farther it goes though, it's going to come down to that inescapable fact.
---
The day after the Supreme Court ruling on marriage, the head of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) flew to Salt Lake city and promised that we would have gay marriage here within 5 years. Utah's position on marriage and gender now becomes a focal point in a national strategy for gay marriage.

The first and simplest route to achieve this goal is Utah's non-discrimination bill, or ENDA. This bill redefines gender in law, making gender an emotional state, rather than a biological one. Those who disagree could face criminal prosecution. [Ed.: Turns out judicial fiat was the route they took. See Janice Graham's SoL Voice, Three Dreadful Things and The Good News.]

This law, if passed, would create a plethora of new challenges for society.

For example: How can we provide children privacy in public restrooms, or school locker rooms? How can parents and students opt out of educational sexual content endorsed by the state? How will marriage law and divorce courts continue to protect every child's right to have both a mother and a father? How will churches and businesses that disagree maintain their freedom of speech and religion? And ultimately, how can traditional marriage continue if gender is emotional?
---
Like you, I doubt a man can openly proclaim to be gay and remain faithful to his wife. The very act of proclaiming to be gay is unfaithful. Any married Mormon man who announced his sexual attraction to a single sister or a woman other than his wife would be called into the Bishop's office and called to repentance without delay.
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Amen, bro. And, so why hasn't the leader of the "mixed-orientation marriage" movement been called in and called to repentance? And one more thing, a man probably should get some good professional counseling from one such as Dr. Jeff Robinson, who has the Atonement as the basis of his counseling. Bishops are good for encouragement, pointing to repentance and the Lord's Atonement etc., but are completely unprepared to help most out of the mental/emotional snare of homosexuality.
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Good work as always! Never give up! You have too important of a message. I try to think of others I can share your message with. Most members just don't care about it, though. I am going to a [pornography] conference this Saturday . . . Not that I know any pornography addicts, I just feel it is my societal duty to be as informed as possible with this ever-increasing plague.
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I'm publishing this! And "marriage" was gonna be our salvation! Way to go. We are of like mind.

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SoL Quote: ""I am just reading what was written over 2,000 years ago. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom. All I did was quote from the scriptures, but they just didn’t know it. Whether I said it, or they read it, what’s the difference? The sins are the same, humans haven’t changed. If you give them the bad news, they’ll start kicking and screaming. But you love them more than you fear them, so you tell them."--Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty
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Dear A&E, congratulations, you just committed suicide
by Matt Walsh

Dear A&E,

I read that you are indefinitely suspending Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty after he quoted the Bible and said that the homosexual act is sinful. I get it, guys. I do. You punished the Christian guy for being a Christian because you got some angry emails from a bunch of whiny gay activists who lack the spine and maturity to deal with the fact that there are still people out there who have the guts to articulate opinions that they find disagreeable. In so doing, you’ve kowtowed to a pushy minority of vocal bullies who don’t even watch your channel, while alienating the fan base of the one show that keeps your entire network afloat.

Makes sense.

You’ve got standards, after all. You wouldn’t want to be associated with tasteless and inappropriate things. The people on Duck Dynasty can’t be allowed to run around being all Christian-like. It might ruin the reputation of the network whose other shows include Hoarders and Intervention — programs that invite viewers to gawk at drug addicts and the mentally ill for their own amusement.

Disney-ABC Television Group owns 50 percent of your network, were they involved in this decision? They must have been. They’ve got a brand to protect. They can’t allow a bearded right winger to spout beliefs. BELIEFS, of all things. The horror! We must shutdown beliefs, opinions, and ideas, and get back to the serious business of selling sex and debauchery to children. They can’t deal with these distractions, don’t they have another season of The Bachelor or Desperate Housewives or Trophy Wife to produce?

Good Lord, these militant neo-liberal thought police are better at brainwashing than I ever realized. They just convinced you to torpedo your own network.

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SoL Quote: President Spencer W. Kimball reminded us that the prophets “constantly cry out against that which is intolerable in the sight of the Lord; against pollution of mind, body, and our surroundings; against vulgarity, stealing, lying, pride, and blasphemy; against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other abuses of the sacred power to create; against murder and all that is like unto it; against all manner of desecration.” He continued: “That such things should be found even among the Saints to some degree is scarcely believable. … Sadly, however, we find that to be shown the way is not necessarily to walk in it.”--Elder Russell Ballard, Oct 1999
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Why Being Called 'Evil' is a Kindness
by Matt Barber

Princeton University was founded in 1746 by devoutly Christian men with a devoutly Christian mission. It has “evolved” into a fortress of secular-”progressivism,” presently employing people like Bio-”Ethics” professor Peter Singer.

Whereas Princeton’s crest and motto yet declare: “Dei sub numine viget,” Latin for “Under God she flourishes,” the university, even still, permits Singer to teach young minds full of mush that it’s perfectly ethical for parents to kill their babies within a one month period after birth.

Please understand, I don’t mean to pick on Princeton. I only single-out this once-godly institution for purposes of illustration. Even today there are, no doubt, many good, God-fearing men and women among Princeton’s student body, faculty, staff and alumni.

To be sure, I might just as easily have spotlighted Harvard, Yale, Oxford or any among dozens of formerly Christian universities that, over time – and beneath the erosive slow-drip temptation to “conform to the pattern of this world” – have tragically abandoned their founding vision to train-up men and women who would “go into all the world” and champion the cause of Christ.

While such institutions of higher learning once derived their moral compass from a decidedly biblical worldview, today they aggressively foster principles that are decidedly counter-biblical (i.e., secularism, sexual relativism, a “pro-choice” culture of death, et al.).

They’ve lost true north. Their once-seaworthy biblical scholarship and worldview have become capsized. Their once-biblical code of belief has become counter-biblical dogma.

There is, mind you, another, more pointed term for “counter-biblical” and it is this: “evil.”

Scripture has much to say about the wide, “progressive” path away from truth and toward evil: “If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud’” (2 Peter 2:20-22).

Scripture also admonishes, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). So-called “progressives” frequently call me evil. They also call me, among other things, irreverent.

I appreciate that.

Since, by its very nature, one’s adherence to secular-”progressivism” qualifies one as among “those who call evil good, and good evil” – and since “progressivism” reveres that which God calls evil – to call me both “evil” and “irreverent” is to do me a kindness.

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SoL Quote: ". . . they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led, that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men." (2 Nephi 28:14)
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Obamacare Jumps the Shark With 'Gay' Christmas
by Jerome Corsi

In an effort to woo a demographic the White House considers key to the success of Obamacare, a campaign called Out2Enroll has produced a video commercial that will test the sensibilities of many Americans who might otherwise be tolerant of the homosexual-rights movement.

While the Christmas-themed ad sponsored by major left-wing groups may be “gay” in every sense of the word, its aim is serious, as the White House is aware that a disproportionate number of homosexual Americans are uninsured and qualify for premium subsidies under Obamacare.

Out2Enroll launched Sept. 12 with a Washington-issued statement and a briefing at the White House that featured remarks from senior presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and various LGBT health experts from around the country.

‘Get Enrolled’

The Out2Enroll video, “Get Enrolled,” tagged as a “Full Frontal Freedom Production,” features semi-nude, muscled young men adorned in Santa Claus hats and reindeer antlers sucking peppermint sticks while prancing about and embracing one another as they decorate a Christmas tree and set out holiday stockings.

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SoL Quote: "O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm." (2 Ne. 4:34)
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“It seems like, to me, a vagina – as a man – would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me,” he bluntly opined. “I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes!”

Robertson also addressed other sins, paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers – they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

“I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me,” he later added. “We are all created by the Almighty, and like Him, I love all of humanity.”

What's Wrong With SSA?
The Burning Question: What Do Mormon Homosexualists Want?
How to Spot a False Teacher
When Daddy Doesn't Love Mommy--the effects of "mixed-orientation marriage" on children
Counterfeit Marriage: A Tangled Web of Deceit

Unfortunately, our religious institutions are being infiltrated by wolves in sheep's clothing who would compromise truth with error. They are going to great lengths to promote the idea that same-sex sexual attraction identity (open homosexuality) is normal, and even Godly. This movement to embrace, celebrate and elevate SSA takes many forms, one of which is a conference scheduled for Saturday, November 16, 2013. The "Reconciling Faith & Feelings" conference will be held in Provo, Utah. Scheduled to last all day, this is a repeat of the same conference held last year at this time, organize and sponsored by active members of the LDS Church. The promoters of this event are some who used to be our allies in the doctrinal view of homosexuality, but who have gradually slipped into a totally worldly view camouflaged with spiritual language, that is finding ways to accommodate homosexuality as if it can fit into God's plan.

We at Standard of Liberty highly recommend that you avoid this conference and discourage others from attending it. We feel its content can be harmful to the eternal souls, and the physical and emotional well-being, of those impressionable youth and adults who attend. Though the conference may include the fact that Mormon 'gays' must remain celebate towards anyone of their same sex, it will surely not define what such chastity would comprise, e.g. refraining from pornography, 'gay' associations and propaganda, dating, flirting, chatrooms, phone sex, hand-holding, hugging, kissing, flaunting, advocating, organizing, recruiting, publically and proudly proclaiming a 'gay' identity, etc. The preceding list of activities have been defined by leading LDS scholars on matters of SSA as forms of "acting on it." It's a good bet there will be zero mention of Christ's gospel of repentance in the conference, although the Lord's name and Atonement will be invoked throughout.

Any intelligent person would wonder why, if SSA is such a driving force in such peoples' lives as to cause them to openly identify themselves by it, those who purport to care about these people wouldn't offer help for becoming virtuous. Indeed this conference will not emphasize or perhaps even offer aid or resources in overcoming unwanted homosexuality. If nothing else, shouldn't such a conference warn of very real health risks? Apparently, the people involved in this conference have great faith in individuals who are preoccupied with perverse sexuality to somehow be pure in heart, mind and body now and for the rest of their lives.

"I have never met a man who made it from youth to age 45 as a celibate gay Mormon fully active in the Church."--MOHOHAWAII

"Studies repeatedly demonstrate that each year a young person postpones labeling themselves as 'homosexual' reduces the likelihood of suicidal attempts by 20%."-Dr. A. Dean Byrd

The conference last year, and as far as we can tell, this year, is about "reconciling" the feelings, desires, thoughts, fantasies, etc. of SSA with the Gospel. It also promoted "mixed-orientation marriage," which is temple marriage between a straight woman and an proud, openly-'gay' man. The problem is that homosexuality and the Gospel are irreconcilable, and to claim they can be reconciled is a false claim. "The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance" (Alma 45:16). One who is troubled by homosexual desires should want to do whatever it takes to overcome and abandon those desires. This conference pretends to teach that maintaining homosexual attractions is an acceptable course to follow. That is simply not so.

Below is an excerpt of a letter we sent last year to one of the promoters of the conference. After the letter, we will include some of our SoL Voice articles that address this issue by providing perspective on different aspects of the Mormon/SSA movement.

Dear -------,

I am more sorry than you can know to read of this misguided and inappropriate meeting. That FAR and AMCAP are sponsoring it is unbelievable. When Dr. Dean Byrd was alive, we talked about young people who were misled into believing that claiming a gay identity was ok. It is not ok to allow yourself to internalize same-sex sexual thoughts, desires and fantasies. It is the lust that Jesus talked about as being sexual sin. To look upon another, opposite sex or same sex, and lust is sinful. And that is what each one of those men do. Some have gotten married, but still openly claim their same-sex desires. How in the world can they make covenants in the temple to keep desires, appetites, etc., in God's bounds when they are actively and openly claiming a gay identity? The gay identity involves same-sex lust, so how is that keeping desires and appetites in proper bounds? It is not.

These people, by having you legitimize their out-of-bounds desires and lusts, are slowly conditioning LDS members to accept same-sex attraction as ok. It is not. For heaven's sake, what are they going to teach their children? That some people are gay and that's ok?

Please, please, cancel this meeting. Do not be one of those being conditioned into accepting SSA as ok. Or at least disassociate yourself from it, and then stand against it.

I am sending, separately, some emails where we discuss the inappropriateness of this move toward "mixed-orientation marriages. Please read them and do the right thing. Dr. Byrd would never have been a part of it. He and I talked about this very thing on several occasions.

Heaven help us,

Stephen Graham

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SoL Quote: "Pornography [addiction] has become a huge, huge issue . . . most often [for] males from the ages of 11 on up . . . [spanning] all cultures, religions, and classes. With the advent of the Internet . . . the average age of initially viewing pornography is 5 years old . . . 'We tell people that if you don't get this problem taken care of, it'll kill you.'"
--Lexie Kite quoting Dr. Matthew Hedelius, The Herald Journal, 2006
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What's Wrong With Same-Sex Attraction?
by Janice Graham

There is a movement now within the LDS Church to push the notion that SSA (same-sex sexual attraction) is a virtuous and noble identity that can be legitimately claimed by faithful members of the Church, that is, as long as it isn't acted on. Is there anything wrong with this thinking? Yes, lots. For one thing, when we say claiming an unalterable SSA identity is perfectly fine but must never be acted on, it is like saying ballet dancers are praiseworthy but actual ballet dancing is evil, which is crazy-making nonsense. Logically, something cannot be virtuous in theory but wicked in practice.

The scriptures are a great help here. We learn in Moroni 7 that it matters what things entice us. That which is of God always invites and entices us to do good, to love God, and to serve Him. On the other hand, whatsoever thing persuades us toward doing evil is most definitely of the devil. In other words, if a behavior is not of God, then anything that entices one toward that behavior is not of God.

SSA, or same-sex sexual attraction, is not just a neutral label as some may unthinkingly conclude. SSA is about self-maintained sexual feelings and thoughts which entice a person to act in certain ways. As uncomfortable as it may be, we must confront what SSA invites and persuades one to do and to assess whether that behavior is of God.

What behaviors does SSA entice people to do? Honest people cannot deny that same-sex sexual attractions entice a person to perform sexually stimulating acts with persons of the same sex, acts that perversely imitate male-female mating, abuse one's body, and mock the sacred power of procreation.

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SoL Quote: "The term tolerance has now become code for acceptance of homosexual behavior and rejection of Judeo-Christian sexual ethics."
--Alan Sears, 2006
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The Burning Question:
What Do Mormon Homosexualists Want?
by Janice Graham

Before reading this please note the great distinction we make between those who believe people should privately strive to overcome homosexual tendencies, and those who have decided to publicly embrace and advocate for the SSA identity. By Mormon homosexualists we mean the latter.

Mormon homosexualists, SSA/gay or not, want something or they wouldn't be going public. These are those who have swallowed the totally unproven notion that people are born gay and the totally irreligious and false notion that people can't or shouldn't try to school their sexual thoughts and feelings, and who are therefore caught up in the worldly pro-gay hype. We are seeing Mormon homosexualists marching in gay pride parades, being interviewed on radio and TV, writing books, appearing in newspaper and magazine articles, being invited to speak at LDS-related conferences, and blogging on the internet.

The latest twist in Mormon homosexulism is: Look at me, I'm same-sex attracted, I'm active LDS, I'm not acting out on my homosexuality, I'm even married to an opposite-sex person. I just want to advocate for Mormons with SSA. This may sound reasonable to many people. It may sound like a positive step. But once a person states his allegiance to homosexuality, everything else he says is not to be trusted. Such a stance is incongruent with LDS covenants to keep even one's desires within God's boundaries. It is incongruent with faithfulness in marriage, incongruent with respect for God's gift of the power of procreation, and incongruent with protecting the innocence of, and modeling proper sexuality to, one's children. This stance also obfuscates the definition of acting out and what same-sex lust really is. (See The Family: A Proclamation to the World.)

It's a curious development. Seeing as how they appear to be following all the outward rules and seem to promise they always will, seeing as how they are getting married in the temple, procreating, and serving in the Church, what makes these Mormon homosexualists different from anybody else? The only difference is that they publicly identify themselves by and advocate their temptation. Do the rest of us become apologists for whatever particular temptations toward sin we happen to be experiencing? What would we hope to accomplish? Aren't we all supposed to be turning to Christ, seeking to know what needs correcting in our souls, and overcoming this or that temptation continually? Obviously, this is not what these Mormon homosexualists have in mind. They certainly aren't asking for help in overcoming their homosexual lusts. So, what are they hoping to accomplish? What is it they want?

1. These Mormon homosexualists may want to become popular within the Church. Perhaps they crave the same special acceptance and attention gays are now getting in the world. Society now increasingly accommodates and celebrates all things LGBT and a portion of the Mormon conmmunity seems to be following suit. Now it's looking more and more like publishing your alternative sexuality-but not acting out (whatever that means)-is the way to have everything: stay in the Church mainstream, maintain your lusts, and even become popular. One such Mormon homosexualist is speaking at the annual LDS apologetics FAIR conference in August, advocating for same-sex sexual attraction. (We checked and there is to be no voice for reorientation therapy or LDS ex-gays at this conference as there has been in the past.)

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SoL Quote: A health text for high school freshmen in Massachusetts suggests, "Testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in your early teens with people of your own sex. . . . You may come to the conclusion that growing up means rejecting the values of your parents."
--from an Alliance Defense Fund publication, 2006
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How to Spot a False Teacher
by Janice Graham

False teachers. They are firmly established among the followers of Christ, presenting themselves as the ultra-faithful and ultra-spiritual. How can we recognize them and their false doctrines? The following, in some combination, are some common characteristics and tenets of false teachers today.

They are typically confident, outspoken, smooth-tongued, young, good-looking, tireless, charismatic, and encourage their own celebrity.

They are driven to spread their false doctrines and succeed in deceiving even the most intelligent and faithful, thereby attaining sponsors.

They choose professions that impact the most people: teaching, writing, journalism, blogging, speaking, counseling and the social sciences.

They are practiced in flattery; they tell people what they like to hear.

They say things to make people feel more comfortable about weaknesses and sins.

They mischaracterize God and subvert truth to allow for weakness and sin.

They focus on feelings rather than truths and on outward acts rather than true religiosity.

They tell a lot of sociological stories that stimulate emotions and pride rather than reflection and humility.

They dismiss generational wisdom, including discouraging parental guidance of children, in order to restructure an entire people's religion, morals, traditions, and beliefs.

They presume to hold back realities, truths, and commandments, claiming to know that others are special, incapable, or unprepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They mix in bits of incomplete truths to make their lies more believable. Example: They repeat the truth that "God loves you just the way you are," but leave out how God wants us to better ourselves from the inside out, which is only possible by humbly relying on Christ, in order to qualify for the greatest of all His gifts: eternal life.

They distort truths. Example: they say no one is perfect, but they present this truth as a consolation and excuse for sin.

They spout scriptures and quotes from authority figures with interpretations that suit their purposes.

They dismiss doctrines, if confronted, which contradict their position, and steer the discussion back to flattery and psychobabble.

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SoL Quote: "It is a wicked, wicked world in which we live and in which our children must find their way. Challenges of pornography, gender confusion, immorality, child abuse, drug addiction, and all the rest are everywhere. There is no way to escape from their influence. Some are led by curiosity into temptation, then in experimentation, and some become trapped in addiction. They lose hope. The adversary harvests his crop and binds them down. Satan is the deceiver, the destroyer, but his is a temporary victory. The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape and are compelled to live in sin. The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent and that they will not be forgiven. That cannot be true. They have forgotten the Atonement of Christ."
--Boyd K. Packer, May 2006
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When Daddy Doesn't Love Mommy--
the effects of "mixed-orientation marriage" on children
by Stephen & Janice Graham

We have had a lot of feedback on our articles about the LDS open "mixed-orientation marriage" development. What we haven't discussed is the effect this would have on the children involved.

As we see the much-praised and publicized trend for openly same-sex attracted guys to get straight girls to marry them in the temple so they can progress toward their ostensible goals in the Church, we also see that couples involved in this experimental phenomenon are bringing children into their homes, however that is achieved. How will this affect these children? Do the parents teach their children that their daddy doesn't love their mommy the way married people should, that he wishes he could go to bed with another man instead?

Children growing up in a home where it is openly accepted and publicly known that the father is permanently SSA, homosexual, or gay, that is, romantically attracted not to the mother, his wife, but to another man or men, would seem to be growing up in a very insecure and dangerous environment. Proper attitudes toward sexuality are not being modeled. Instead, the child is being taught all kinds of harmful, false, and confusing ideas: that love and sex need not be connected, that fathers need not be affectionate toward mothers, that husbands and wives need not love each other the way married people do, that extra-marital lust is harmless, that it's okay for men to be turned on by other men, and the list goes on. Will the child have fears that Daddy will abandon the family if he falls in love with a man?

It seems that the openly homosexual father will undoubtedly model what are now thought of as gay stereotypes or exemplify homosexuality in one way or another (even if not actually acting out with other men), or why would he be openly SSA? He may be a spokesman, writer, therapist, facilitator, or belong to activist groups. The vulnerable child will naturally seek to emulate his father in every way. The duped mother may also endorse the homosexual identity and encourage the child to admire and copy the father. The child will then grow up believing that being SSA is okay, and that same-sex sexual attraction is a perfectly fine channel for his or her developing sexuality to take.

Of course the above is what the children would be learning in such a home. How can a mixed-orientation couple, married in the temple with the approbation of Church, family, and friends, teach their child anything else? Given their public declaration of support for SSA and mixed-orientation marriage, these parents aren't going to be teaching their own child that their own mixed-orientation marriage is in any way abnormal or below standard. Of course they will teach their children, even in unspoken ways, that they are a normal couple, or as these couples have articulated, even superior to traditional heterosexually oriented couples. Hence, the child will grow up thinking homosexuality and mixed orientation marriage are actually better than heterosexual coupling. Is this true or right or fair?

The other day we watched a good movie called There Be Dragons. A quote: "In a child's heart many seeds are planted. You never know quite what will grow." Before we allow for, encourage, support, or embrace mixed-orientation marriage, we need to consider what it will be teaching the children in that home.

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SoL Quote: "I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today."
-- Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003
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Counterfeit Marriage: A Tangled Web of Deceitby Janice Graham

We teach a standard of moral conduct that will protect us from Satan’s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage. We must understand that any persuasion to enter into any relationship that is not in harmony with the principles of the gospel must be wrong. . . Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so!
--
President Boyd K. Packer, “Cleansing the Inner Vessel,” Oct. 2010 Gen. Conf.

You’ll have to come to your own conclusion why LDS Living Magazine, owned by Deseret Book and sold at Deseret Bookstores, has published an over-the-top cover article that is the antithesis of the above statement by President Packer, the second highest ranking leader in the LDS Church.

Our Story, Living with Same-sex Attraction by Ty and Danielle Mansfield, appearing in the May/June 2012 issue is a lengthy article illustrated with over a dozen photos, including a huge 2-page-spread close-up of the couple's faces (he is kissing her on the cheek). Written by the author of two gay-affirming books published by Deseret Book and his wife, the article is based on some serious new kookiness and some very false presumptions. What is presented as a happy, warm, fuzzy, and above all, highly spiritual article, is actually a tangled web of ignorance, delusion, and manipulation.

Please note that even more dangerous than the false representation of homosexuality as pure and noble, and the radical redefinition of some higher form of marriage that is supposedly nonsexual, is the presumptuous spiritual component in this article. The claim of personal revelation on sweeping topics that affect the very foundations of an entire people’s faith is this author's stock in trade. We quote from Ty Mansfield's book, In Quiet Desperation, in which he likens himself to Moses. "It was as if the Lord were saying to me, ' . . . Ancient Israel was called to build a tabernacle . . . You, my son, have likewise been called to a responsibility of great magnitude, for you have been called to build a kingdom'" (247). Please see Dr. A. Dean Byrd’s review of this book.

We apologize if the following intrudes on this couple's privacy. As always, we do not mean to attack individuals and most certainly wish only the best for this young couple and their innocent child. It is only because they have set themselves up as a light and voluntarily made their “mixed orientation marriage” an object of public concern by publicizing and defending what Pres. Packer called one of “Satan’s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage” that we feel we must respond to this article. Sorry this is so long; there are just so many things wrong with the article.

Tangle #1
The article presumes people who experience SSA are doomed to have to live with it. Again, “Not so!” Many outgrow SSA or make a determined and successful effort to overcome and reorient their sexual feelings in the proper direction (PFOX, NARTH,JONAH, Standard of Liberty). You'd think this promising couple would seek to resolve this supposedly on-going problem, but there is no discussion of understanding where the feelings came from in the first place, or about getting help for rooting out the misguided thoughts and lawless lusts.

Tangle #2
But wait a minute. Is the husband in this article really same-sex attracted? How do we know this? After all, his most recent actions, which are glowingly described, are undoubtedly heterosexual. In his own words, he was "drawn to Danielle in multiple ways." (Notice he uses the word drawn instead of its synonym attracted.) He enjoyed a whirlwind romance, married this woman for time and forever, posed for many happy wedding pictures, and subsequently fathered a child. And Danielle says her husband’s SSA “isn’t noticeable in our marriage.”

What is same-sex attraction anyway? It seems Mansfield has convinced his wife that SSA, although it is his claim to fame, doesn’t mean anything of any importance. She says, “I don’t think much about my husband experiencing SSA unless something stereotypical comes up, like he’s a much better decorator than I am and he is a better listener than any other man I’ve ever dated.” What does she think gayness is – just some outward trappings she happens to consider unusual in men? Then she has drunk the gay Koolaid and doesn’t know much about the opposite sex. Just because a man is artistic or a good listener does not mean he is homosexual. In fact, all healthy men have everything it takes to be men in all the important ways no matter what their talents or hobbies.

If SSA is just about innocuous outward characteristics, who cares about it? Why do we feel sorry for men who paint or sing? Why do they need special rights? Why do we care about this couple? It’s like any other couple. Danielle writes, “People sometimes want to know what it’s like to be married to someone who experiences same-sex attraction. My answer is, I don’t know.” So, LDS Living has published an article about nothing? It’s like an episode of Seinfeld.

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SoL Quote: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
-- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
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As state after state falls to the full legitimization of "gay marriage" (there are 13 at this writing), some institutions are still holding out. These traditionalists may be retreating from the public fight, but are insisting they will not give in, policy-wise (whatever that looks like). How long will they hold out? What is causing them to take a stand against homosexuality at this particular point? Their reason can't be God and morality because homosexuality itself is immoral, an abomination before God; they gave up on God and morality a long time ago if and when they accepted the false notion that homosexuality is inborn and pretty much unchangeable, which many have done. Now all they are saying is that they want to keep marriage between a man and a woman for this or that reason, while respecting others' beliefs and hoping that same respect will work both ways. Sorry, that isn't enough. It isn't enough for God. It isn't enough for the poor souls caught up in homosexualism. It isn't enough for our children who are being indoctrinated into embracing unlimited sex and sexuality as normal and harmless. And it isn't enough to stop the juggernaut.

In all their efforts to be tolerant and popular, traditionalists have become completely distracted. Afraid to take a stand against homosexuality itself, when the sexual activists seized upon marriage, the traditionalists gave a deep sigh of relief because now they could stand for something while avoiding being against anything. But of course it's all a pretense. Of course people who are for traditional marriage are also totally against gay marriage, and of course people who are against gay marriage are also totally against the practice of homosexuality, and of course people against anything homosexual are going to be labeled and punished later if not sooner.

Reality check: Any negative sentiment toward gay marriage (which includes any positive sentiment for traditional marriage) is now being proclaimed discriminatory/anti-gay. It doesn't matter what your "tone" is, how "delicately you put it, or how much you truly love people, any hesitancy at all toward celebrating homosexuality (even warning of the obvious health risks) is now nothing but hate, ignorance, and bigotry. So if we're trying to avoid being punished, all this we're-pro-traditional-marriage-but-we-love-and accept-gays-rhetoric is for nothing. The other day a guy named Craig James got fired from his job at Fox Sports Network because someone dug up the fact that last year when he was running for the U. S. Senate he said he was in favor of marriage as between a man and a woman. Apparently being for traditional marriage, meaning you are against gay marriage is one of the worst things you can be nowadays. Just last night we were watching a TV show and one of the characters was informed by an acquaintance that her profile on a dating site had obviously been hacked, the clincher being that she said something upsetting about gay marriage, whereupon she went into shock and sputtered how awful this was and of course no one would say such things. There you go.

C. S. Lewis said, "Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged by the world to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we have taken the wrong position." In other words, defending man-woman marriage is the wrong position. It's a cowardly dodge. The real issue, which is the worldwide love affair with sexual license being preferred over religious freedom, reality, health, and safety, is being neglected. As morality and God and the worth of souls are forgotten, one trusted institution after another has made one concession after another, which will eventually lead to, for all practical purposes, the full tolerance of unlimited sex and sexuality.

It's funny how people think the sexual liberation juggernaut will stop on precisely the spot they want it to stop, right before their own opinion of a legitimate boundary is breached, as if their enemies can read their minds and will oblige them.

The gay movement has been extremely successful. It has captured the public sentiment without any significant direct dissent. Please note that the marriage debate, because it is only a distraction, has not made a dent in the homosexual movement; on the contrary it has bolstered it. Homosexuality is now open and commonplace. It is accepted in our families, our churches, our schools, our entertainment, our businesses, our governing bodies. The traditionalists may still insist that they will never permit same-sex marriage in their institutions, but having already given in on principle, it is parading on in nevertheless.

Real life case in point: A same-sex couple with children moves into your neighborhood. Legally married in some state or not, they act like a married couple/family and participate in the same school and church and playgroups you and your family do. The same-sex couple arranges playdates with your kids. You know the kids will role play and talk and that their unique family situation will come up. You don't want your children to grow up thinking there's nothing wrong with same-sex coupling, but you don't know what to do about it. You're a nice person, so you're stuck. You would never want to break up a family or hurt someone's feelings. No one, no leaders, no teachers, no parents, in your church or neighborhood or schools wants to offend anyone either. Everyone just wants to get along and be thought well of. So the fact is, short of relocating, no one will say or do anything negative and children will grow up believing there's nothing unusual or wrong about the practice of homosexuality. In addition, because we will hesitate to teach anything about proper marriage and family for fear of offending homosexuals, children will grow up confused, perhaps believing homosexuality is to be preferred.

Traditionalists can say all the glowing, insistent words against same-sex marriage they want, but public sentiment is ruling the day. This is happening because traditionalists took the wrong position. They doggedly chased the marriage red herring while emboldened homosexuality came, saw, and conquered our society for all practical and social purposes. What they should have done is stood steadfast, bravely and wholeheartedly with God and His Truth, instead of being distracted by the ridiculous marriage debate. It's ridiculous because men can't mate with men or women with women. Why are we even having this conversation? The real issue is: homosexuality in all its forms is perverse and harmful, in principle or in practice, "married" or not.

And let's not forget that godless, lawless sexual activists have no boundaries.This is obviously only the beginning.

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SoL Quote: "I have never met a man who made it from youth to age 45 as a celibate gay Mormon fully active in the Church."--MOHOHAWAII
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SoL Attends 2013 Values Voter Summit, Washington D. C.

Onward Christian Soldiers

It rained on us the two days we spent in D. C. October 11-12, not just moisture from the skies but truth from heaven. That’s where all truth comes from: God. He gives us the faculties–the minds and hearts, the eyes and ears– to recognize it and the agency to decide whether we will embrace it or not.

At this our eighth time attending this conference, we were reunited with friends and met with thousands of like-minded people to hear some of that truth. Minds were engaged, hearts were willing, eyes and ears were open. Ordinary people raised their voices in prayer, applauded, stood and cheered like an army on the front lines marching for God.

These days some say that standing for truth and righteousness in the form of God-based values is a losing battle. But although all of the truly faithful admit that the powers that be appear bent on completely destroying America’s faith and moral foundation, you wouldn’t know the battle was anywhere near lost at this conference. Our morale was boosted, even just by being among and hearing from so many who remain fully engaged in the fight.

It was very validating to be among those who refuse to bury their heads in the sand. Before we can be good soldiers we must face the fact that a full-fledged war is on. It may not be a war fought physically for us here in America, although it is in other parts of the world. Physical threat or not, it is a war between principalities and powers, a fight against spiritual wickedness in high places. Great good and great evil do not dwell in harmony together. One will eventually conquer the other. Christian soldiers know this.

Many good people are resisting this reality. They are busy raising families, working to earn a living, finding enjoyment in God’s many gifts as they face ordinary life’s ups and downs. On top of that, it isn’t pleasant to hear about negative, contentious events. It’s actually scary. People look at their innocent children and grandchildren and can’t bear to imagine what lies ahead for them in a country that has come to despise its own posterity in every conceivable way: physically, economically, morally, spiritually. We are living in a time when infants are routinely slaughtered before or even after birth, when government tyrannizes taxpayers into financial bondage and spends toward future ruin, when blatant, selfish immorality is legitimized, encouraged, and celebrated, when the constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom to live, work, and speak according to the dictates of one’s conscience is abridged, outlawed, and increasingly punished. It is difficult indeed to believe this is happening.

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SoL Quote: "Once darkened, a society loses its capacity to distinguish between right and wrong and the will to declare that some things are wrong per se. Without the lamp our world finds itself desperately building temporary defenses, drawing new lines, forever falling back, unwilling to confront. A society which permits anything will eventually lose everything."--Neal A. Maxwell, Deny Yourself of All Ungodliness, Ensign May 1995
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The Effects of Soft Core Porn on the Brain
by Dr. Jennifer Brown

Jennifer Brown grew up in Woods Cross. She attended Weber State University, where she majored in microbiology and minored in chemistry. She then graduated from Creighton University as a dentist. She is a practicing dentist, but her science background gave her the foundation she needed to study hundreds of abstracts and numerous scientific articles regarding the brain and the hormones involved from exposure to pornography. She currently lives in Bountiful with her husband and five sons.

Dr. Brown has written a comprehensive report detailing the damage done to the developing brain as a consequence of the inundation of soft-core pornography.

Click here to read Dr. Brown's Report on the effects of soft core porn on the brain.

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SoL Quote: "If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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A Married Mom and Dad Really Do Matter: New Evidence from Canada
by Mark Regnerus in Public Discourse

A new academic study based on the Canadian census suggests that a married mom and dad matter for children. Children of same-sex coupled households do not fare as well.

There is a new and significant piece of evidence in the social science debate about gay parenting and the unique contributions that mothers and fathers make to their children’s flourishing. A study published last week in the journal Review of the Economics of the Household—analyzing data from a very large, population-based sample—reveals that the children of gay and lesbian couples are only about 65 percent as likely to have graduated from high school as the children of married, opposite-sex couples. And gender matters, too: girls are more apt to struggle than boys, with daughters of gay parents displaying dramatically low graduation rates.

Unlike US-based studies, this one evaluates a 20 percent sample of the Canadian census, where same-sex couples have had access to all taxation and government benefits since 1997 and to marriage since 2005.

While in the US Census same-sex households have to be guessed at based on the gender and number of self-reported heads-of-household, young adults in the Canadian census were asked, “Are you the child of a male or female same-sex married or common law couple?” While study author and economist Douglas Allen noted that very many children in Canada who live with a gay or lesbian parent are actually living with a single mother—a finding consonant with that detected in the 2012 New Family Structures Study—he was able to isolate and analyze hundreds of children living with a gay or lesbian couple (either married or in a “common law” relationship akin to cohabitation).

So the study is able to compare—side by side—the young-adult children of same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples, as well as children growing up in single-parent homes and other types of households. Three key findings stood out to Allen:

children of married opposite-sex families have a high graduation rate compared to the others; children of lesbian families have a very low graduation rate compared to the others; and the other four types [common law, gay, single mother, single father] are similar to each other and lie in between the married/lesbian extremes.

Employing regression models and series of control variables, Allen concludes that the substandard performance cannot be attributed to lower school attendance or the more modest education of gay or lesbian parents. Indeed, same-sex parents were characterized by higher levels of education, and their children were more likely to be enrolled in school than even those of married, opposite-sex couples. And yet their children are notably more likely to lag in finishing their own schooling.

The same is true of the young-adult children of common law parents, as well as single mothers and single fathers, highlighting how little—when you lean on large, high-quality samples—the data have actually changed over the past few decades. The intact, married mother-and-father household remains the gold standard for children’s progress through school. What is surprising in the Canadian data is the revelation that lesbian couples’ children fared worse, on average, than even those of single parents.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the Public Discourse website.

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SoL Quote: “All men can be chaste in body and in mind, if they truly desire it, and if they use the right means to be so. But it is a perfect mockery, to talk about our inherent and ungovernable passions, while we take every measure to deprave our instinctive propensities, and to excite our passions, and render them ungovernable and irresistible.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 76.
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Sexual Predator Honored With U.S. Postage Stamp
by Matt Barber

Benjamin Franklin famously quipped, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Franklin evidently failed to envisage today’s postmodern left. For the conservative, there exists at least one other certainty, and it is this: The degree to which “progressives” attack you corresponds precisely to the degree with which you challenge any among their assorted, distorted and sordid sacred cows.

What would you call a 33-year-old man who both had and axiomatically acted upon a deviant sexual appetite for underage, drug-addicted, runaway boys? (No, not Jerry Sandusky.)

What would you call a man of whom, as regards sexual preference, his own friend and biographer confessed, “Harvey always had a penchant for young waifs with substance abuse problems”?

In a recent interview with OneNewsNow.com, I called this man “demonstrably, categorically an evil man based on his [statutory] rape of teenage boys.”

But you can call him Harvey Milk.

Harvey Milk’s only claim to fame is that he was the first openly homosexual candidate to be elected to public office (San Francisco city commissioner). His chief cause was to do away with the Judeo-Christian sexual ethic. In 1978 Milk was murdered over a non-related political dispute by fellow Democrat Dan White.

And a “progressive” martyr was born.

Merriam Webster defines “pederast” as “one who practices anal intercourse especially with a boy.” It defines “statutory rape” as “the crime of having sex with someone who is younger than an age that is specified by law.”

Harvey Milk was both a pederast and, by extension, a statutory rapist. After I publicly addressed this objective reality in the above-mentioned interview, the liberal blogosphere reacted in, shall we say, an informatively defensive manner.

Here’s what’s especially telling about their reaction. Not one of the dozen-or-more publications that reported on my comments even challenged their veracity. Not one attempted to refute or deny that Harvey Milk was, in fact, a pederast and a sexual predator.

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SoL Quote: “The wisest and best men of every age, have manifested a deep interest in the welfare of youth; and have considered their intellectual, moral and physical education, character and condition, of the utmost importance to the individual, social and civil welfare of mankind.
The ancients were particularly attentive to these things. Their most enlightened and philanthropic sages and lawgivers regarded the proper education of youth, as the foundation of national prosperity and happiness. And they who have entertained the most correct views on this subject, have been fully aware, that the intellectual, moral and physical interests of man cannot be separated.
In every condition of the human race, the physical, as well as the moral state of the people, is of the highest consideration; but more especially in a country like ours, where the aggregate of individual character and individual will, constitutes the foundation and efficiency of all our civil and political institutions.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 23.
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Follow Up: Boy Scouts' Blunder
by Ed Vitagliano

The Boy Scouts of America bravely fought for its moral principles for years. When challenged in court by homosexual activists who insisted that it open its doors to gay scouts, BSA said no. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court even ruled in favor of the Scouts in a landmark decision, Boy Scouts of America v Dale.

This year, however, BSA reversed itself and voted to allow homosexuals to join. In response, AFA recommended that Christian parents pull their young men out and place them in a Christian alternative.

In the July-August issue of AFA Journal the case for this recommendation was laid out in detail. Not all of our readers agreed, and we wanted to address the three main concerns raised by our loyal supporters.

Conduct vs. orientation
One reader rebuked AFA Journal by pointing to the fact that the Boy Scouts resolution kept its ban on homosexual conduct. “It is the conduct that matters!” he said, “The BSA got it right.”

This is splitting hairs. Yes, BSA has always forbidden homosexual conduct in Scouting, but it has also forbidden heterosexual conduct. After all, Boy Scouts were not allowed to bring their girlfriends along on campouts.

What has clearly changed now is that BSA leadership no longer acknowledges that homosexuality itself is wrong. In accordance with the Boy Scout Oath, homosexuality is now part of being “morally straight.”

In other words, there is no separating orientation from conduct. This was made explicit by the Supreme Court in the Dale decision. In that ruling Chief Justice William Rehnquist stated that the mere presence of homosexuals in the Scouts would “force the organization to send a message, both to the youth members and the world, that the Boy Scouts accepts homosexual conduct as a legitimate form of behavior.” (Emphasis added.)

The high court understood the obvious: If BSA was forced to allow homosexuals to join, then the organization was being forced to declare that it approves of homosexuality itself. And if the Scouts were forced to affirm that homosexuality is moral, then they were likewise being forced to pronounce that homosexual conduct is moral.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the AFA Journal website.

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SoL Quote: “He who in any manner endeavors to excite the sensual appetites, and arouse the unchaste passions of youth, is one of the most heinous offenders against the welfare of mankind; and, so far as effects are considered, it is not enough that he who meddles with this matter, means well. Irreparable mischief may be done, with the best intentions. There is no point of morality of more importance; and none that is intrinsically connected with so much difficulty. Through a fear of contaminating the minds of youth, it has long been considered the wisest measure to keep them in ignorance; and too generally, in order to sustain this measure, the natural inquisitiveness of the young mind has been met by misrepresentation and falsehood, on the part of those who would preserve their purity; while on the other hand, the basest of human cupidity has eagerly catered to the restless and prying curiosity, which has thus been exceedingly augmented. So that, while parents have been resting securely in the idea of the ignorance and purity of their children, these have been clandestinely drinking in the most corrupt and depraving knowledge from mercenary and polluted hands. I am fully convinced that mankind have erred in judgment, and in practice, on this point. Truth, properly inculcated, can never be injurious.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 7.
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Answering Key Questions About Homosexuality
by Rev. John MacArthur

PHIL: Our subject today is on the issue of homosexuality. We chose this because in recent months it's one of the things that we've gotten the most questions from listeners about. John's last appearance, you know, on Larry King had to do with the issue of homosexual marriages and since then it's only become a bigger issue. So here we are and I'm going to introduce it by reading a little script that they've given me, so here we go. Are we ready?

Well thank you, Carl, and hello, John. I do have a lot of questions I want to ask you and so let's just get right to it. There's no denying that the debate over homosexuality has become one of the defining issues of our day and a major front in the culture war. I think the topic touches all of us in one way or another because it intersects with all of society's most basic institutions...home, marriage, government, and of course, religion and our faith. And so the questions that I have for you today are going to explore all of those areas. This debate over homosexuality is an emotional one and it hasn't diminished over time, only the opposite. And with all of the discussion lately about homosexual marriages and all of that, it's been at the forefront of our news. You can barely turn the TV on these days and not see something about it. And, in fact, most recently you were asked to be on Larry King Live to discuss this very issue. Tell us a little bit about that experience.

JOHN: Well, I was, frankly, glad for the opportunity because I always think it's a privilege to represent the Word of God and the truth of God in that particular environment, and particularly with something as heated as the discussion of homosexuality. I really welcomed the opportunity to bring the Word to God to bare on that. I'm a little bit surprised that I get invited because I'm so predictable. Even Larry King will tell me, "That I know exactly what you're going to say and that's why we have you here." I am very predictable. They can count on me to say what I really believe. And, you know, I remember being on there one time with a Muslim, a Catholic, a Hindu and a Rabbi, and if I hadn't been there, they all would have agreed with each other even though they're four different religions because everybody just sort of finds the middle ground and all of that. So I think it's a great opportunity to put the gospel out in bold contrast and bold relief. And it really doesn't matter to me what the subject is, any opportunity to present what God has to say on that subject is a great opportunity. And I was praying that the Lord would give me an opportunity also to present not just the sin of homosexuality but the gospel of grace offered to those who repent of it. And I had that opportunity also . . . .

JOHN: And that's when I said, "Then you would know that the Bible condemns homosexuality as a sin." And, of course, there's no answer to that once you said what he said and...so then I had the opportunity to say that I mentioned that no homosexual would ever enter the Kingdom, 1 Corinthians 6, 1 Timothy 1:10, no homosexual will ever enter the Kingdom. And Larry King said, "Well maybe not everybody wants to get into the Kingdom of heaven." And he sets me up. He was setting me up. So I turned to this homosexual actor sitting next to me, he writes for the Gay Advocate, and I had met him earlier, and his name is Chad. And I said, "Well I think Chad wants to get into the Kingdom of heaven, don't you, Chad?" And he said, "Yeah, I do." And that was great because then I explained to him how that God would show grace and Christ to the homosexual.

So, I've said this before, whenever I get into that kind of environment there are only two things I want to say. One is that the Bible is the only authority, and two, Jesus is the only Savior. I don't know...it doesn't matter what the topic is, it doesn't matter what it's about, it can be about world religions, it could be about the war in the Middle East, it could be about homosexuality, but it all comes down to biblical authority and Jesus Christ as the only Savior, and have that opportunity even with homosexuals listening and even encountering them face-to-face is really why I live and move and have my being, to present the gospel of grace to sinners of all kinds.

Click here to read/hear this question and answer session on the Grace To You website.

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SoL Quote: "There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity. But the third subject mentioned-personal purity, is perhaps of greater importance than either of the other two."--Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 312
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Child Molestation and the Homosexual Movement
By Steve Baldwin

Lately, the gay movement seems to be making large gains in its war on America's Judeo-Christian culture. Gay characters have become the norm on sitcoms; it has become fashionable to attack the Boy Scouts; homosexual propaganda inundates many of our public schools; nearly all the mainstream religious denominations have "revised" their understanding of Biblical teaching concerning homosexuality; and the gay "rights" legislative agenda is succeeding beyond the advocates' wildest imaginations.

And yet the destructive impact homosexuality has upon Western Civilization is rarely discussed by columnists, reporters, religious leaders, politicians or by anyone else for that matter. Even some conservative publications choose to ignore the issue and instead have published articles arguing for greater tolerance of the gay lifestyle.

Indeed, on the homosexual issue, conservatives seem divided between a "live and let live" attitude and one that concludes that the homosexual agenda will have to be curtailed if the Judeo-Christian culture is to survive. However, overwhelming evidence supports the belief that homosexuality is a sexual deviancy often accompanied by disorders that have dire consequences for our culture. A vast amount of data demonstrating the deviant nature of the gay lifestyle is ignored by the media as well as the leadership of the psychological, psychiatric, and medical professions.

It is difficult to convey the dark side of the homosexual culture without appearing harsh. However, it is time to acknowledge that homosexual behavior threatens the foundation of Western civilization ─ the nuclear family. An unmistakable manifestation of the attack on the family unit is the homosexual community's efforts to target children both for their own sexual pleasure and to enlarge the homosexual movement. The homosexual community and its allies in the media scoff at this argument. They insist it is merely a tactic to demonize the homosexual movement. After all, they argue, heterosexual molestation is a far more serious problem.

Unfortunately, the truth is stranger than fiction. Research confirms that homosexuals molest children at a rate vastly higher than heterosexuals, and the mainstream homosexual culture commonly promotes sex with children.[1] Homosexual leaders repeatedly argue for the freedom to engage in consensual sex with children, and blind surveys reveal a shockingly high number of homosexuals admit to sexual contact with minors.[2] Indeed, the homosexual community is driving the worldwide campaign to lower the legal age of consent.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the Virtue Online Website.

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SoL Quote: "The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves."
--Isaiah 3:9
The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they ha------------

Following are graphic and explicit excerpts from The Bluest Eye, which is on the Common Core’s list of exemplar texts for 11th graders. If you are easily offended you may want to skip them and go straight to the story. (Note from editor: Even heavily edited, this is still very graphic.)

Pages 162-163: “A bolt of desire ran down his genitals…and softening the lips of his a**s. . . . He wanted to f*** her—tenderly. But the tenderness would not hold. The tightness of her v****a was more than he could bear. His soul seemed to slip down his guts and fly out into her, and the gigantic thrust he made into her then provoked the only sound she made. Removing himself from her was so painful to him he cut it short and snatched his genitals out of the dry harbor of her v****a. She appeared to have fainted.”

Page 174: “He further limited his interests to little girls. They were usually manageable . . . His sexuality was anything but lewd; his patronage of little girls smacked of innocence and was associated in his mind with cleanliness.” And later, this same pedophile notes, “I work only through the Lord. He sometimes uses me to help people.”

Page 181: “The little girls are the only things I’ll miss. Do you know that when I touched their sturdy little t*** and bit them—just a little—I felt I was being friendly?—If I’d been hurting them, would they have come back? . . . they’d eat ice cream with their legs open while I played with them. It was like a party.” . . . .

I understand that after reading those excerpts a lot of you may be angry that this is approved for reading in any school. I could probably end the article here.

However, there are many things that need to be addressed and I have detailed for you here with much help from Jill Manning, PhD.

Adams 12 5 Star School District is the 5th largest school district in Colorado and has transitioned to the new Common Core standards. The book, Toni Morrison’s 1970 novel, “The Bluest Eye,” is among Common Core’s exemplar texts for 11th graders.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the PolitiChicks website.

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SoL Quote: "Until we recognize Homosexuality for what it really is, having compassion on those affected and offer help for them to overcome the problem — instead of refusing to admit there even is a problem and passing it off as just “another qurk” in morally normal and healthy sexuality — the “problem” will not go away.
Influence by association is real and powerful — especially for young impressionable youth."--Victor Johnson, commenter on Touchstone mag blog post, May 20, 2013
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Published with permission from Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. We would like to express our special thanks and gratitude for all of the lives saved by Dr. Nathanson. Introduced by Charlton Heston, an Academy Award winner and a conscientious citizen who takes an active part in community and film industry affairs. He urges the news media which he charged have "failed badly to inform the public on the abortion issue" to use the film Eclipse of Reason to promote a better informed public. This film produced by Bernard N. Nathanson, M.D. documents the intra-uterine life of a little boy at 5 months of age as seen through a fetoscope - a camera placed inside the pregnant uterus. Riveting images of a late abortion are then shown with a camera both inside and outside the uterus. Consistently verifiable statistics emphasize that this horror takes place 400 times a day in the US alone. In addition, there are deeply moving interviews with the other victims of abortion, women who have been irreparably injured by abortion, physically and psychologically.

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SoL Quote: "As the world gets more wicked, a possible way to attain worldly success may be to join the wicked. The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine—all of their doctrine . . . We need not solicit persecution, but neither should we remain silent in the presence of overwhelming evils, for this makes cowards of men . . . [F]alse educational ideas are prevalent in the world, and we have not entirely escaped them among teachers in our own system. There are a few teachers within the Church who while courting apostasy still want to remain members in the Church, for being members makes them more effective in misleading the Saints. But their day of judgment is coming, and when it does come, for some of them it would have been better, as the Savior said, that a millstone had been put around their necks and they had drowned in the depths of the sea (Matt. 18:6), than to have led away any of the youth of the Church . . . [S]ome members of his Church will fall away. There has been individual apostasy in the past, it is going on now, and there will be an even increasing amount in the future. While we cannot save all the flock from being deceived, we should, without compromising our doctrine, strive to save as many as we can . . . [I]f your friends or associates encourage base thoughts, then you had best leave them . . . Think clean thoughts. Those who think clean thoughts do not do dirty deeds. You are not only responsible before God for your acts but also for controlling your thoughts. So live that you would not blush with shame if your thoughts and acts could be flashed on a screen in your church. The old adage is still true that you sow thoughts and you reap acts, you sow acts and you reap habits, you sow habits and you reap a character, and your character determines your eternal destiny. "As a man thinketh, so is he" (see Prov. 23:7) . . . Pray. There is no temptation placed before you which you cannot shun."--Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Address, October 1964
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End of SoL Voice November 2, 2013

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The Standard of LibertyVoice

In This Issue:October 1, 2013
Not. Even. Christ., by Janice Graham
From Our Readers
Steve Young and wife Barbara speak at "gay" conference
Children Need Our Marriage Tradition, by John Smoot
Video: Understanding Same-Sex Attraction, by Family Watch International
Liberty Counsel warns co-existence not goal of homosexualists
Online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today, By Martin Daubney
New Mexico Supreme Court rules against Christian photographer
Homosexuality and the Campaign for Immorality, by John MacArthur

Not. Even. Christ.

Book Review by Janice Barrett Graham

The Not Even Once Club is a new children's picture book in an LDS setting written by Wendy Watson Nelson that is getting some praise and quite a lot of criticism. We note that the great majority of comments on amazon.com coming from both LDS and others are negative so far. There is even a petition in place to have this book removed from the shelves of Deseret Book stores. (I'm not going to discuss the one-page appendix for parents at the end of the book because it's not part of the story that the children hear or read. I figure the author put into the story what she wanted to emphasize.)

Apparently, the producers of this seemingly harmless book are all about getting children to promise early in life not to intentionally commit, what the author seems to see as the most tempting, outward sins, namely those regarding the Word of Wisdom, lying, cheating, stealing, drugs, bullying, immodest dress, chastity, and pornography. Not. Even. Once. And they get to be in a cool treehouse club and eat popcorn and candy and play with balls and use art supplies provided by their Primary teacher and "have a good time," that is, as long as they avoid these sins. (I wonder if Sister Nelson knows that the Just Say No! drugs program in schools has proven to be a complete failure.)

There are several weird things about this book. But I'll get down to the nitty-gritty. Questions: What has the notion of simply avoiding certain behaviors have to do with our religion? Where does this get us? Is Christ's a gospel of preventance? Wasn't this Satan's plan, and didn't he make all sorts of pleasing promises? Why don't people who have every resource at their disposal concentrate on teaching children God's plan and the gospel of Jesus Christ? Why don't they want to try what Alma called "the virtue of the word of God," the thing that works better than anything else to make us good and the only thing that will get us where we want to go?

Children from the youngest age can and should be gently taught the basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, about God's perfect love (He doesn't kick us out of the club but provides a way back in), Christ's Atonement (we all sin in some way or another and can be forgiven because of Christ if we humbly repent), and the gift of the Holy Ghost to teach and guide us. In this way they'll have the tools they need to meet any of life's challenges.

This book should be retitled, Not Even Christ, because it doesn't mention him or indeed any member of the Godhead. Not. Even. Once. What's the matter, can't we talk about Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost in a treehouse? Are we like the Zoramites who professed on the Sabbath their unlimited devotion to God but never spoke or thought of Him for the rest of the week? Here in the words of this irresponsible, secularized book we see yet more unfortunate evidence that we Mormons think we can do good works and avoid any significant sins, thereby avoiding that pesky Atonement and in essence saving ourselves. On the contrary, the scriptures teach us in no uncertain terms that Christ is the only way. We need to have unwavering faith in God's plan, teach and emphasize the unadulterated Word of God to our children, and make "the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ the Son of God" the foundation of our faith, always and forever, including in church books we produce for children.

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SoL Quote: "The symptoms of humanism include first-graders learning all about sodomy, condoms, and deviant sexuality. In the end, the separation of church and state means the state, and state schools are free from the Christian influence. That means we have moral anarchy, where the very words, "good" and "evil" have no meaning. What is evil today will be tolerated tomorrow, and even extolled the day after that."
--Bob & Jeri Boyd, Issues in Education newsletter, 2nd quarter 2012.
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From Our Readers

Here are comments sent by some of our SoL subscribers

"Your stand is right on! You are doing an outstanding job to help unify those who have God's standards. Amen to those individuals and organization who will not lower their stance as the world becomes more wicked. I am sure God wants all of us to become more vigilant to not bend. We need more organizations like yours."

"I was very disappointed with the Church and their position on the Boy Scouts. And then the Supreme Court and their judicial activism makes marriage into a joke."

"I am so grateful for your voice of reason, truth, and clarity, as I read your 6/14/13 blog entry, "If Being Gay Isn't About Sex." I wish everyone in the whole world could read this and really see what's happening. Everything that was said there makes so much sense. Why don't people see it?! Why would anyone support a friend or loved one who is stopping his/her eternal progression by choosing this life of homosexuality? It seems like they would be doing everything they could to help get that person on the strait and narrow path leading to eternal life!"

"Most of our fellow ward members . . . are against [the homosexual movement], not really understanding its heart of evil. In my eyes, the important folks to educate are those who are suckered into believing that gay people are more intelligent, kinder, and more moral, so that even though these folks are not gay, they mistakenly believe it is good to advance the gay cause. Most, but certainly not all, Mormons are not duped into thinking being gay is good. But, many others who would oppose evil have been duped and beguiled into believing that the gay lifestyle is actually a moral lifestyle, which is so false. Those are the folks that most need to be educated, and yes, some of them are Mormons."

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SoL Quote: "Americans and especially believers need to know that this heinous uber-depravity lurks behind the "soft sell" of professionally-marketed "gay equality." We must cry out to our youths: don't go down the "gay" path -- it is perilous and Satan will draw you in using the "pleasure" of sin!! (And of course there is a parallel evil reality, albeit far less deviant, for lesbians.)"
-Peter LaBarbera, Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
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Mormon Football Star Steve Young and Wifespeak to "gay" Affirmation Conference in SLC

Really? "Gay" Mormons have their 32nd Affirmation conference? And football player Steve Young and his wife Barbara speak? Their message: Mormon "gays" chose to come to Earth at this time so they could be leaders in the fight for "love," and should be patient like Jesus while the Mormon Church "evolves" to acceptance of "gay" love. Steve Young's talk was mainly football stories with words of support thrown in at the end. His wife, Barbara's talk, however was all about acceptance of homosexuality (her brother is "gay"). See the Fox13 video and read the SL Tribune article. Watch the video of Barb Young's talk. Watch the video of Steve Young's talk.

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SoL Quote: "Whether one agrees with it or not, there is a kind of obvious consistency in banning openly homosexual members from an organization that holds that homosexual activity is morally problematic. To be sure, dispositions and acts are morally distinguishable, and it is therefore possible to hold that only homosexual acts, and not necessarily homosexual desires, are blameworthy. Nevertheless, as a practical matter, being an open homosexual is indistinguishable from proclaiming a belief that homosexual acts are morally innocent. After all, if one accepted the traditional view that such acts are morally impermissible, one would ordinarily keep one's inclination to them to oneself."
-Carson Holloway, Public Discourse, May 28, 2013, "The Boy Scouts' Doomed Compromise."
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Video: Understanding Same-Sex Attraction

Family Watch International recently released an excellent 27-minute video. It goes into some of the causes of homosexuality, harm it creates in peoples' lives, and how it can be overcome. Information is presented by world-renowned scientists, clinicians and individuals who have recovered from it.

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SoL Quote: "Don't be fooled when you hear that the homosexual movement is about peaceful 'co-existence.' Orthodox religious values are the one main obstacle to them reaching their goals. The two worldviews are incompatible with each other. So they must remove religious values from society, by whatever means possible, or at least keep these values isolated, closeted, invisible, chained inside 'houses of worship.'"
-Tony Perkins, Family Research Council newsletter, 2013
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Legal group warns 'co-existence' not goal of homosexual activists

A legal group is calling attempts to ban counseling for minors struggling with same-sex attractions shows the goal of gay activists for "complete dominance."

With the recent passage of laws that ban gay-to-straight therapy for minors in New Jersey and California, Liberty Counsel is warning those who cherish freedom must understand the motive behind homosexual activism.

Staver, Mat (Liberty Counsel)Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel says the ban on gay-conversion therapy is a threat to the freedoms of both children and parents who have a right to obtain this kind of therapy.

"It has nothing to do with real people who are actually benefiting, have benefited from this counseling. This is just a politically motivated agenda," Staver tells OneNewsNow.

He goes onto call the issue a "zero-sum game" in which homosexual rights "trump everything else," including religious freedom and the First Amendment.

"It distorts every other freedom," he says.

Liberty Counsel called the bill an "intrustion into the counselor-client relationship and into the rights of parents."

The coalition of homosexual activists is a "threat to our freedom," Staver claims.

"The agenda is ultimately not tolerance, not co-existance, but absolute dominance, and not only dominance, but forcing people to affirm homosexuality as normal," he says.

The California Supreme Court recently upheld the state's ban on gay-conversion therapy. Liberty Counsel plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

With the recent passage of laws that ban gay-to-straight therapy for minors in New Jersey and California, Liberty Counsel is warning those who cherish freedom must understand the motive behind homosexual activism.

Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel says the ban on gay-conversion therapy is a threat to the freedoms of both children and parents who have a right to obtain this kind of therapy.

"It has nothing to do with real people who are actually benefiting, have benefited from this counseling. This is just a politically motivated agenda," Staver tells OneNewsNow.

He goes onto call the issue a "zero-sum game" in which homosexual rights "trump everything else," including religious freedom and the First Amendment.

"It distorts every other freedom," he says.

Liberty Counsel called the bill an "intrustion into the counselor-client relationship and into the rights of parents."

The coalition of homosexual activists is a "threat to our freedom," Staver claims.

"The agenda is ultimately not tolerance, not co-existance, but absolute dominance, and not only dominance, but forcing people to affirm homosexuality as normal," he says.

The California Supreme Court recently upheld the state's ban on gay-conversion therapy. Liberty Counsel plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

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SoL Quote: "If you leave your son in the Boy Scouts, you have just sent him a huge unspoken message: Homosexual behavior isn't so bad, and people probably are born that way - like he keeps hearing. So, he will process it this way: 'I should accept it. And if my instincts are telling me otherwise, I must be a bad person, like the hateful people they keep telling me to ignore.'"
-Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2013
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Online porn is the most pernicious threat facing children today
By Martin Daubney

The moment I knew internet pornography had cast its dark shadow over the lives of millions of ordinary British teenagers will live with me for ever.

I was sitting in the smart drama hall of a specialist sports college in the North of England with a fantastic reputation.

Before me were a group of 20 boys and girls, aged 13-14. Largely white, working class children, they were well turned-out, polite, giggly and shy.

As the presenter of a Channel 4 documentary called Porn On The Brain, airing next Monday at 10pm, I'd been invited to sit in on a forward-thinking class led by sex education consultant Jonny Hunt, who is regularly asked into schools to discuss sex and relationships. To establish what these kids knew about sex - including pornography - he had asked the children to write an A-Z list of the sexual terms they knew, no matter how extreme.

Most of these children had just hit puberty and some were clearly still children: wide-eyed, nervous, with high-pitched voices.

Some of the girls were beginning their first forays into make-up. Several wore braces on their teeth. Everybody was smartly turned out in school uniform, and the most anti-authority statement in the room was a tie worn deliberately short. A One Direction pencil case lay on a desk. These were clearly good children, from good homes. So far, so very, very ordinary.

But when Jonny pinned their lists on the board, it turned out that the children's extensive knowledge of porn terms was not only startling, it superseded that of every adult in the room - including the sex education consultant himself.

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SoL Quote: "The [Boy Scouts'] climate of assent will erode each boy's code of ethics, either quickly or slowly, but it will happen. It will erode the Christian boy's reliance on Scripture, his relationship with the real, living Almighty God and our Savior Jesus Christ. If he begins to doubt that God actually is our Creator, the One who decided long ago what is good and what is evil, and did condemn homosexual behavior as a sin, and if he is lulled into failing to use the brain God gave him to observe that two men together is observably wrong, this is a boy who is being enabled in truth denial. He is then vulnerable to all kinds of other corruption and, without an anchor, is really no different than any un-Scouted kid in our rudderless society."
-Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2013
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New Mexico Supreme Court rules against Christian photographer

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Today, the New Mexico Supreme Court in Elane Photography v. Willock, ruled against a Christian photographer who, citing her deeply held religious beliefs, declined to work a same-sex commitment ceremony. New Mexico law does not recognize gay marriage or gay civil unions. A recent Rasmussen survey found that 85 percent of Americans support the right of a photographer to refuse participation in a same-sex "wedding."

Ken Klukowski, Family Research Council's Director for the Center for Religious Liberty released the following statement:

"The New Mexico Supreme Court's decision is profoundly disturbing. That court explicitly declares that a person's sincerely-held religious beliefs--in this case, traditional and orthodox Christian beliefs--do not permit them to run their privately-owned business in accordance with their religious beliefs. This decision would stun the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, is a gross violation of the First Amendment, and should now be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court to reaffirm the basic principle that the fundamental rights of free speech and the free exercise of religion do not stop at the exit door of your local church, and instead extend to every area of a religious person's life.

"This decision may bring to Americans' attention the serious threat to religious liberty posed by overbearing government agencies when it comes to redefining marriage. Rather than live-and-let-live, this is forcing religious Americans to violate the basic teachings of their faith, or lose their jobs," concluded Klukowski.

Click here to read this article on the Family Research Council website.

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SoL Quote:"Folks, whatever the [Boy Scouts'] motivation for this move, it's insane. Troops are not supposed to be social experiments or, possibly, therapy centers for troubled boys who may be leaning toward homosexuality. Kids who have same-sex attractions can change and often do by adulthood. But it is not healthy or right to involve other children with these very personal struggles as confused boys are figuring all this out, or in some cases, not figuring it out."
-Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2013
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"Homosexuality and the Campaign for Immorality"by Rev. John MacArthur

Earlier in the service I read from the first chapter of Romans what is really a very, very shocking portion of Scripture. Just to remind you that Romans chapter 1, verses 18 to 32, describes the wrath of God that is unleashed in the world.

The wrath of God is divided into a number of elements. There is eschatological wrath. That is the wrath that will fall on the earth at the end of human history in a time called the time of Tribulation. There is sowing and reaping wrath. That is the wrath of God that comes consequent on sin--whatever a man sows, he reaps. There is cataclysmic wrath. That is the wrath of God that He sets on man from miraculous use of the natural order, such as the Flood, or any other massive disaster that catapults souls into eternity. So there is that wrath of God which is eschatological and which is consequential and which is cataclysmic. And then there is that wrath of God which is eternal wrath, and that would be the wrath of God unleashed on the ungodly forever in the punishments of eternal hell.

But the wrath that is being referred to in Romans 1 isn't any of those. It is the wrath of abandonment. The wrath described here is the wrath that is executed when, according to verses 24, 26 and 28, God gives them over--gives them over, gives them over. In other words, it's when God abandons a nation. It's when God abandons a society and gives them over to the consequences of their behavior, which is escalating iniquity and disaster leading to judgment. This wrath of God is released from heaven, "revealed from heaven," verse 18 says, "against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth." And he goes on to say they all have the truth; the truth is visible from creation.

You can know something of God and His nature and from the heart, Romans 2 says, the law of God is written in the heart. But when man abandons God, as revealed in creation, when man abandons God, as revealed in conscience, when man abandons God, as revealed in Holy Scripture, suppressing the truth, God judges that society. And though that society may consider itself to be wise, it is in reality the ultimate ship of fools. The heart becomes darkened when God is abandoned and then God abandons the darkened heart.

What you see in Romans chapter 1 is the sequence of what happens when God abandons a nation. First, verse 24 says, He gives them over to "the lust of their hearts to impurity," sexual sin, the dishonoring of their bodies among them. When God abandons a society, the first thing that happens is it becomes pornographic. It becomes obsessed with sex, obsessed with fornication, adultery, every kind of sexual behavior. We have gone through that already in the sexual revolution a couple of decades ago.

Click here to read/watch/listen to this great sermon on the Grace To You website.

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SoL Quote:"Recent data point to high rates of physical and mental illness associated with homosexuality. Our nation has a growing epidemic of sexually transmitted disease due to rampant sexual promiscuity. All of this makes a significant impact on public health-and health care costs. Sexual immorality of any type is not the foundation on which to build our future . . . . It is a myth that homosexuality is genetic. There is no evidence whatsoever to support this claim. Nor is homosexual behavior a civil right; that is simply propaganda. Civil rights are based on unchangeable factors: race, gender . . . [T]hose who engage in homosexuality have not faced the kind of discrimination that African-Americans have historically suffered. They were never enslaved or denied the vote, and they are certainly not politically or economically disadvantaged."
-Tony Perkins, Family Research Council newsletter, 2013
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In This Issue: August 11, 2013
If Being Gay Isn't About Sex, by Janice Graham
Wake Up and Smell the Truth, by Michael Glatze
The Arguments Against Change, by Rabbi Daniel Horowitz
Porn Use and Supporting Same-Sex Marriage, by Mark Regnerus
Ohio Ordered to Recognize Gay Marriage Performed in MD, by HotAir.com

If Being Gay Isn't About Sex

Incredibly, it could be that some people don't actually realize that gayness is about sex. After all, 11-year-olds are coming out to celebrations and parents are identifying their 2-year-olds as gay. How can little children know anything about sex? It must just be who people are.

Wrong. It is about sex. Naughty sex. Gay sex. Harmful, disease-spreading, life-shortening gay sex. That's what it's really about. That's what the phony "identity" is based on and what the lifestyle encourages and leads to. Why don't people realize this?

They don't realize it because the gay movement has done a great job of disguising homosexuality. They have done this purposely and systematically, as recorded in black and white in numerous publications such as After the Ball and "The Overhauling of Straight America." Through relentless political pressure on scientific, academic, government, and religious entities they have made a proclivity for homosexual sex a respectable ethnicity and homosexuals a victimized minority group deserving special treatment. They have distracted the public with ridiculous hyped-up stereotypes: Men who really like clothes, music, acting, dancing, art, beauty are probably gay. Gays are smart, creative, glib, talented, sweet, kind. The formerly unspeakable vice known as homosexuality is now inextricably associated with rainbows, goodness, Broadway musicals, high IQ, civil rights, morality, philanthropy, love, children, marriage, even Jesus Christ.

It's a huge deception.

If being gay is not about perverse sexuality, if it's just about some people's harmless talents, interests, mannerisms, and platonic same-sex affections, why is everybody making such a big deal about it? People have all sorts of different interests and traits and talents. Lots of people get teased and bullied. Some are excluded for all sorts of reasons, bad and good. So why does gayness get to be its own huge political issue? Why all the controversy if gayness is so ordinary and innocuous? Why all the policy changes? Why all the legislation about so-called discrimination and hate? Why the demand for so-called same-sex marriage? Why the legitimization of gay parenting? Again, why are some people's harmless personality traits and interests and attractions suddenly a reason to create a specially-privileged political minority group that is wreaking havoc in every aspect of our society and culture, including trumping other people's constitutional right to practice their religious convictions?

The reason is, gayness is not about harmless personality traits and interests. It's not about including people who are different, it's about embracing something different, something bad. The whole movement is about promoting Godlessness by way of promoting unlimited sex and sexuality. Activists have deceptively and cleverly targeted, intimidated, infiltrated, and degraded every established institution you can think of---education, business, entertainment, marriage, family, religion, scouting, government---to force further legitimization and acceptance of homosexuality and homosexual sex. Lots of people see how evil this is, and so we have a huge conflict. The conflict concerns rules about sex and sexuality: God's timeless rules versus some arbitrary human-made rules. The two worldviews cannot peacefully co-exist. That's why gayness is so extremely controversial. It's the deviant sexual component. Sadly, many who join this parade are mere pawns, damaged, vulnerable, deceived, prideful, vain, foolish.

Don't be fooled. The embrace of gayness (homosexual sex) as normal, healthy, and harmless is a very big deal, for childhood, for individuals, for families, for churches, for society, for freedom, for health and safety, for posterity, and for our souls. It is a symptom of deep moral and spiritual blindness and rebellion against nature and God.

Christians are losing the "culture war" discourse about gay marriage, because they are avoiding the topic at hand: homosexuality.

Recently, I saw a quote by Ryan Anderson, of the Heritage Foundation: "The marriage debate is not about homosexuality, but about marriage." The rest of the comments by Mr. Anderson went to great lengths to explain to gay people that we don't want to deprive you of companionship; we (Christians, presumably) just want to sanction the Godly form of marriage.

Let's backpedal a second, here.

The point is not marriage. Marriage didn't need a defense, before homosexuality become increasingly accepted in American society. Marriage would not currently need a debate, were it not for the rampant acceptance (and, blindness about) homosexuality.

The issue is not marriage; the issue very clearly is homosexuality.

When God took care of Sodom and Gomorrah, he didn't send the two angels down to have a calm, nice dialogue with the men of the city, who were rampantly engaging in homosexuality, explaining to them, "it's not that we have a problem with your lifestyle, guys... please, feel free to hang out in each other's company... we wouldn't want to deprive you of companionship...," etc. No; the angels came to deliver out Lot and his family, before the judgment of the Lord on a wicked city, whose inhabitants had turned from His gracious hand.

God is not compromising with homosexuality; how come so many "evangelicals" are?

Click here to read the rest of this article on the RenewAmerica website.

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SoL Quote:
When good men stand, evil men are restrained. When good men sit idly by, evil men prevail. If we fail to stand against evil, we have no one to blame but ourselves when evil triumphs. In the words of Plato, "The price of apathy is to be ruled by evil men." Patriot Depot
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The Arguments Against Change

by Rabbi Daniel Meir Horowitz

There has been much debate and heated discussion over the issue of changing one's sexual orientation from that of homosexual to heterosexual. The "ex-gay" phenomenon has drawn incredulity, laughter, venom and vitriol. Emotions, however, contribute nothing to the debate except to draw attention away from the real issues. One does not need to be a scientist, doctor, theologian or protester. One merely needs to be a logical human being who attempts to analyze the pros and cons of attempting to change one's Same-Sex Attractions (SSA) into something else.

Let us begin with the fundamental assumption that NO ONE will ever achieve real change if it is forced upon them. The person themselves must truly want it. This means that for whatever reason they feel that SSA does not fit in their lives, be it for religious, emotional, practical, or other motivations. This is a universal concept that applies to any form of behavior or personality modification. If a parent, peer, religious advisor, et al. convinces a person to attempt to change, when the person themselves does not really want to, not only will it not be effective, but can be detrimental and dangerous.

It is possible for a person be motivated by their religious beliefs to change themselves so they can live in a way that is in line with their religious dictates. But it must be an internal motivation to be in line with their values and mores, not an imposition from other human beings. G-d gave us free choice, and we must exercise it. If a person is being pressured to the point that they can't say "No," then their "Yes" isn't worth too much. As soon as the pressure is released, the change will vanish. No competent therapist should be treating someone who is being forced into therapy. Only once a person truly wants to change, can any discussion of the possibility of change be entertained. It is then that they can they properly analyze the possible reasons to refrain from attempting it.

1) It's Genetic - A hotly contested issue, of whether SSA is caused by nature, nurture, or both. I posit, however, that this is completely irrelevant! Even if it would be proven that SSA is completely genetic in origin, that fact should carry no weight in this discussion. The only thing that matters is whether it is possible to change once the SSA is there, not what caused it in the first place.

Society is full of people who attempt to override what their body naturally does. Baldness may or may not be genetic, yet most people don't care; they merely want to deal with it. Being bald doesn't fit the way they want to live their lives, and so they try alter their situation. One's hair going gray as one gets older is caused by their genes, yet millions of people color their hair. If a child's teeth grow in crooked, their parents pay thousands of dollars on braces. People's genes gave them a certain nose, but they may choose surgery to give them a different one.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the JONAH International website.

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SoL Quote: "As a practical matter, being an open homosexual is indistinguishable from proclaiming a belief that homosexual acts are morally innocent. After all, if one accepted the traditional view that such acts are morally impermissible, one would ordinarily keep one's inclination to them to oneself." Carson Holloway, "The Boy Scouts' Doomed Compromise."
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Young adult men's support for redefining marriage may not be entirely the product of ideals about expansive freedoms, rights, liberties, and fairness. It may be, in part, a byproduct of regular exposure to diverse and graphic sex acts.

Recently I read the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy article by Sherif Girgis, Robert P. George, and Ryan T. Anderson, titled "What Is Marriage?" (The article, I am told, has been extensively revised and expanded, and has just been released as a book.) Their explanation of marriage's distinctiveness as a one man-one woman union includes the following claim:

Marriage has its characteristic structure largely because of its orientation to procreation; it involves developing and sharing one's body and whole self in the way best suited for honorable parenthood-among other things, permanently and exclusively.

Given that I study the sexual and relationship lives of emerging adults, I couldn't help but note the contrast between this description of marital sexuality and how sex is portrayed in modern pornography. Indeed, the latter redirects sex-by graphic depiction of it-away from any sense of it as a baby-making activity. Porn also undermines the concept that in the act of sexual intercourse, we share our "body and whole self ... permanently and exclusively." On the contrary, it reinforces the idea that people can share their bodies but not their inmost selves, and that they can do so temporarily and (definitely) not exclusively without harm.

Click here to read the rest of this article on the Public Discourse website.

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SoL Quote: "For Christians to accept some kind of validity with respect to homosexuality is for those same "Christians" to turn on the Lord Jesus - whose arms are open to welcome homosexuals out of their identity, out of their habits, out of their former life, and into His liberating Grace."--Michael Glatze, ex- homosexual, in Renew America, 5/12/2010
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Addressing the constitutional question, Black explained, "Although the law has long recognized that marriage and domestic relations are matters generally left to the states, the restrictions imposed on marriage by states, however, must nonetheless comply with the [U.S.] Constitution."

To that end, the court examined the Supreme Court's decision striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act this June in United States v. Windsor, the 1996 decision in Romer v. Evans, and in other decisions addressing differential treatment found to be unconstitutional under the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

Looking at Ohio's bans on recognizing same-sex couples' out-of-state marriages, while acknowledging its recognition of the marriages of opposite-sex couples who would not be allowed to marry in Ohio, Black concluded, "The purpose served by treating same-sex married couples differently than opposite-sex married couples is the same improper purpose that failed in Windsor and in Romer: 'to impose inequality' and to make gay citizens unequal under the law."

Needless to say, if other courts follow this lead, we'll have coast-to-coast legal gay marriage as a matter of Full Faith and Credit with the only limitation on gay couples their ability to travel to a pro-SSM state temporarily to get hitched.

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SoL Quote: "It's one thing . . . to acknowledge that some heaven-bound Christians may struggle with homosexual desires and even conduct, but an entirely different matter to condone and affirm a homosexual "orientation" as if God intended it to be one's basis for self-identification."--Scott Lively, in WND article, 6/21/13
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In this issue: June 23, 2013
Celebration of Marriage, featuring David Barton
The Many Faces of Gay: SLC Gay Pride Festival and Parade
How Many Churches Will Leave the Boy Scouts?
Syphilis Rates at Epidemic Proportions Among Homosexual Men
SoL Interviewed by Americans for Truth About Homosexuality

Historian David Barton to Speak and Alex Boyé to Perform at South Towne Expo Center

The Friends of Marriage Foundation will present a Celebration of Marriage Wednesday, June 26, 7 pm, Sandy South Town Expo Center. The program features best-selling author David Barton, a favorite on the Glenn Beck program and nationally-acclaimed Broadway and solo recording artist Alex Boyé.

Alliance Defense Fund attorney Frank Mylar will provide a review of the pending Supreme Court decision on California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act and explain how the ruling will affect Utah’s families. and Janet Erickson, Ph.D., social science professor will share her experience.

Time magazine called David Barton one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals. “The Supreme Court ruling on DOMA and Proposition 8 will be an historic event,” said Barton. “Whichever way it goes, it will forever impact the future of America. Both sides realize that the fight to preserve traditional marriage is far from over. We need to understand what this means for our nation and our children. The Celebration of Marriage is an historical event and I am thrilled to be part of it.”

Joining Alex Boyé are some of Utah’s top performers, such as the award-winning bluegrass family band CrosStrung entertaining during a music and mingle at 6 pm. Some of Utah's finest artists will also display their work, including Sandra Rast, Lynde Mott, Anne Marie Oborn, Sallie Poet and more.

Mary Summerhays, Friends of Marriage president said, “From million man marches in Paris to the World Congress of Families in Australia, the international stage is seeing a rising movement to preserve marriage. Utah is proud to be part of it, and the vital role it plays in protecting children’s rights. We invite everyone in support of traditional marriage and interested to learn more to attend. We will have answers to tough questions. We hope you will join us for this inspirational evening.”

The event is open to the public. General admission is $5 per person. Reserved seats are $25 with a VIP reception and priority seating at $100 minimum. Register at: utahcelebrationofmarriage.com under the tab “Events/June Event.”

The Celebration of Marriage is Wednesday, June 26th at the South Towne Expo Center, 9575 S. State Street Sandy, 84070 with the VIP reception 5:30 – 6:30 p.m., music and mingle at 6 p.m. and the program from 7 – 9 p.m.

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SoL Quote: "The truth is that having scouting for homosexual kids is not really what the complaints are all about. Instead, the complaints reveal HRC activists’ scorched-earth strategy: They will leave no institution standing that refuses to capitulate to leftist ideology." AFA Journal, April, 2013
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This celebration is wrong on so many levels. One is how it irresponsibly recruits and encourages a wide range of troubled individuals, mostly youth, to self-identify as gay and pursue a dead-end lifestyle.

One young self-identified gay man with multiple emotional troubles went to see the parade for the first time this year. He reported to his mother that it was comforting. Comforting to see mostly normal-looking people there, families and children. Comforting because the event portrayed the homosexuality he was participating in as normal, natural, carefree. Oh, there was one float on which men in Speedos were acting up a bit, he admitted, but that was because they had been so oppressed and were finally able to be free.

This lewd parade has been happening with the local government stamp of approval and support from mainstream institutions for 30 years, so I wouldn’t call these men oppressed. And as far as freedom is concerned, nobody in their lifetimes has ever stopped them from making their own personal life choices. What they are really doing is celebrating licentiousness, reveling in idolatrous defiance against God, truth, and nature.

The mainstream celebration of homosexuality is wrong on a societal scale, sending a deceptive and destructive message. It is also hurtful on a personal scale for many types of particularly vulnerable individuals: young people just developing their sexuality; young people who happen to fit the gay stereotypes; young people who are merely rebellious; pornography addicts; victims of sexual, emotional, and psychological abuse; those struggling with unwanted homosexuality; those who have lived the lifestyle and left it behind; and those for whom homosexuality is only an outward symptom of deep psychological illness/suicidality as in the young man above. These are just a few of the many hidden faces of gayness.

Many who have given in to the gay movement know that it is all wrong but have come to rationalize that homosexuality is such a complex issue that we can’t with any authority or accuracy address it. This is like saying there are so many types of cancer we shouldn’t single out and seek a cure for any of them. Wouldn’t that be cowardly and unfeeling? If homosexuality is wrong or harmful in any form, shouldn’t we do all we can to prevent and remedy it?

As one writer put it, “It is sometimes difficult for Christians to comprehend the breathtaking speed with which the gay movement has succeeded in America. While the political movement itself began in 1969, it has only been over the last decade that homosexual activists have seen virtually every one of their dreams come true” (Ed Vitagliano, afaJournal, June 2013). In the process those vulnerable individuals mentioned above are being blindly disregarded precisely by those who should care and shamelessly exploited by the gay movement juggernaut.

Click here to see the pictures SoL took at the parade. Click here to see the SL Tribune slide show of the parade.

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SoL Quote: "No longer allowed to do their duty to God and remain “morally straight,” the corruption of Boy Scouts of America will be a terrible sign that the secular campaign is nearly won, that the Judeo-Christian foundations of our civil society have been utterly overturned. Should BSA cave, the end will not come immediately. But it will merely be the eye of the storm, with the angry clouds gathering next outside the walls of the church in America." AFA Journal, April, 2013
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How Many Churches Will Leave Boy Scouts?
By Mike McManus,
June 13, 2013, VirtueOnLine

Last February Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, asserted that if the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) voted to allow gay boys to become Scouts, "It would be a catastrophe for Boy Scouts, 1.1 million of whom are sponsored by Mormons, Roman Catholics and Baptists who are overwhelmingly opposed to this change."

Not necessarily.

This week Southern Baptists meeting in Houston overwhelmingly voted to oppose the Boy Scout's decision to admit gay members, declaring that homosexual conduct is contrary to a Scout's oath to do his duty to God.

However, the resolution allows member churches to individually decide whether to stop sponsoring Scout troops. There are 4,000 Baptist churches that sponsor 108,000 troops.

During the debate, Wes Taylor, pastor at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Newport News, VA, said it is "ungodly and unacceptable" for young boys to be exposed to homosexuality.

"I am very sad to say that it seems as though (Boy Scouts) are moving away from the principles they were founded upon."

Others argued that the denomination should embrace gay members of scouting and seek to guide them toward a more Christian life.

One pastor stated that a young boy who claims to be gay is most likely the victim of abuse or otherwise needs guidance, and that the church or Scouts should not abandon them.

"So let's bring him in and show him what real biblical manhood is about."

The Baptist resolution calls on churches that decide to sever ties with the Boy Scouts, not to abandon their ministry to young boys and to consider expanding a "Royal Ambassador" ministry designed to develop "Godly young men."

By contrast, the Mormon Church, the largest sponsor of Scouting nationwide, with 430,000 youth members, expressed support for permitting gay Scouts.

Michael Otterson, public affairs director of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that "BSA in reality reintroduced and reinforced some of its century-old core values and nailed those colors firmly to the mast in an unmistakable message."

What were those principles? A few hours after 1,400 BSA delegates voted to allow gay Scouts but not gay Scoutmasters, Gary E. Stevenson, Presiding Bishop of The Church Latter-day Saints, noted that the Boy Scout Oath has boys pledge "to do my duty to God."

"If boys truly understand what their duty to God entails and lived it, they would grow safely into manhood... It is this belief in duty to God that has forged the iron-strong connection with Boy Scouts of America" and Mormons.

Otterson noted one key line in the BSA resolution: "Any sexual conduct, whether homosexual or heterosexual, by youth of scouting age is contrary to the virtues of scouting."

By contrast, Catholic Bishop Paul Loverde of Arlington, VA, blasted BSA "for caving in at the cost of its moral integrity."

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the VirtueOnLine.org website.

Below are some comments on this article.

Bruce Atkinson
The Boys Scouts is not a church. They will not evangelize or " show [a boy] what real biblical manhood is about." With this change, they will instead enable and virtually encourage many boys to accept this as an acceptable option before they have any idea about what is right or what it will do to them. This change essentially says what the liberal culture says: it is acceptable.

James T.
Well, if you want to send your 12-yr. old son out camping and tenting and showering with a 17 yr. old homosexual, and to be told by said homosexual that homosexuality and sodomy are just fine, go ahead. I for one don't even want my son to think about homosexuality, and sexual perversion, and how homosexuals abuse each other. And I want my son to be in an organization where he can speak freely about his religious and common sense beliefs and manhood and womanhood, and the right and moral place for sex and so on. So, for me, the Boy Scouts has become an abomination. We're out.

Mary Brown
Thank you for this well-presented article and encouragement. The Baptists do have Royal Ambassadors (and Girls' Auxiliary, now Girls-in-Action) already in place.
May God bless in some way every visitor to the website. Someone copes with a comment however short a time it's online. If we could both learn and teach, rather than pontificate, but that's obviously not the blogging system. As far as writing in vain, we can recall we are to "sow bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9: 6).
When we remember that we live for, speak for and work for the Lord, our hearts hopefully overflow and our pens are poised as ready writers (Ps.45:1).

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Resources: DVD--Divorcing God: Secularism and the Republic. A look at what the founding fathers believed about morality and religious faith. DVD--It's Not Gay. Former homosexuals tell their stories, and warn that the sanitized version of homosexuality being told is not the truth. Both DVDs available at store.afa.net.
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VANCOUVER, June 10, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC) have issued a warning that syphilis infections in homosexual and bisexual men have soared to their highest levels in more than 30 years in the Vancouver area.

According to the warning, 2012 saw 371 new cases of syphilis reported in British Columbia. Eighty percent of those cases were diagnosed in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, which stretches from Metro Vancouver northward along the coast to Bella Coola, and were confined almost entirely to the male homosexual community.

According to VCH's syphilis infection records, the disease was almost non-existent in the early 1990s, with only 3 infections, mostly associated with female prostitutes, reported in 1993. By 1997 the number of cases rose to 22, and then exploded as the disease shifted to the male homosexual community in the early 2000s.

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, outbreaks of syphilis in BC are predominantly among men, and have followed the national trend. Across the nation there has been a 870% increase in syphilis in men between 1999 and 2008.

“We’re encouraging men who have sex with men to become more aware about syphilis and to incorporate regular testing into their health care routine,” said Dr. Réka Gustafson, medical health officer with VCH.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the LifeSiteNews website.

--------------------"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." 2 Cor 10:12
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SoL Interviewed by AFTAH

Stephen Graham, President of SoL, was interviewed by Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood of AFTAH (Americans for Truth About Homosexuality) 5/16/2013 and 6/8/2013. See the AFTAH website, and listen to the 5/16 podcast and listen to the 6/8 podcast. The topic was the Mormon Church, the Boy Scouts, and institutional softening on homosexuality.

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From pedophile to pedophile - an imaginary letter

Dear Fellow Pedophile Colleague,

I wanted to write and tell you about a great opportunity we have. I have found an organization where we will be able to have virtually unlimited and uncontrolled access to young boys.

The organization is called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is also referred to as the Mormon Church, or the LDS Church.

The organization in this Church is perfect for us. The member families are divided into pods, or "Wards". A Bishop is the leader of the Ward. He is called the "Father of the Ward", and the members believe he communicates directly with God on all matters pertaining to the Ward.

The Bishop, through divine revelation, "calls" (names) a man as Scout Master. Every ward is required to have a Boy Scout troop. This becomes the Boys Youth Program in every ward. There are thousands of Wards around the country.

It's easy to get named Scout Master. Few men want that postion. It takes a lot of time. Once you join up and do the right things, just express an interest and the day will soon come you are Scout Master. After that, you run the ship. The parents leave you alone, because you have been "called of God" by the bishop, the "Father of the Ward". You have to be "ok". The Bishop called you, after all. They will trust you immediately and at face value.

You will have to take a little "course" on child safety that the Boy Scouts of America gives you, but it is a cinch. The Boy Scout leader that was the National Director of Programs for the BSA at about the time the "course" was developed was convicted of trafficking child pornography on the internet! He is one of us! No worries about that. To learn more about our friend, go the the link here;

If you get caught, you have little to worry about. The parents have been trained to go to the Bishop with problems. Domestic, financial, marital, it makes no difference. He is their counselor. The parents will come to him to complain. I know of one case where a parent was told, only a few weeks after complaining, that the "problem was solved", and it was "all ok now". Our friend continued to be the scout master and had fun with many more boys for many years.

Because the Bishop has been told to protect the Church at all costs, even before the welfare of the members, he will keep it very quiet. A Bishop actually told a friend of mine he was told by his leaders to protect the name of the Church first! Even before considering the welfare of the members!

The really neat thing is that the BSA and the LDS are in the same bed together. Because total public exposure of their problems would devastate both these businesses, they work very hard to keep it quiet.

I know of three of our friends, a Mr.Empey, a Mr Hardin, and a Mr. Stowell, all in Scouting leadership positions, all in LDS Troops, who were having fun for years before they got caught. Take a look at their stories below. It sounds like they had a blast, and it looks like they were protected by both the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts of America.

In this issue: June 10, 2013
Is Embracing Homosexuality Christlike?
Homosexuals can be made whole!
The Boy Scouts' Folly: Putting Sexual Morality Up For A Vote
Becoming Whole Again
Study: Homosexuals Twice As Likely To See Mental Health Treatment

SoL Quote: "The bestclue of knowing whom not to trust is, of all things, the pity play. The most reliable sign is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy. It's as obvious as the nose on our face and just as difficult to see without a mirror: The reason sociopaths-people with no conscience-desire pity above all else is that good people will let pathetic individuals get by with murder, so to speak. When we pity we are defenseless, and our emotional vulnerability is used against us by those who have no conscience. Sociopaths all get what they want, completely without shame. I am sure that the devil would want us to feel very sorry for him."
--From The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout

Is Embracing Homosexuality Christlike?
--Janice Graham

One of the arguments for the sudden wholesale acceptance of open homosexuality in the Church (contrary to all holy scripture and millennia of prophetic warnings) is that Christ "never turned anyone away, regardless of who they were or what they did." That "he was always among the sick and afflicted, because the whole hath no need of a physician." That "all are invited to come and participate so that we might help each other." (These are actual quotes defending homosexuality within the church.) So to be like Christ we are supposed to unquestioningly embrace a person's self-proclaimed homosexuality, period. In this world at this particular time, this must strike us all as a very convenient and comfortable philosophy.

What is wrong with these sound bytes that create such an idyllic picture? Let's take them one by one.

"Christ never turned anyone away." False. He cast out devils, he cleansed the temple, he dispatched the rich young man. He castigated the Pharisees and told hypocrites to "depart from me." Is our understanding of Christ (the Creator and Savior of the Entire Universe) so vaporous and insipid that we think of him only as a camp counselor or massage therapist or cruise director? And do we really think the gospel of Jesus Christ is just about including everybody? If Christ is just about holding hands in a big circle, why does he incessantly call us to repentance? Why does he invite us to change our hearts? Why does he entreat us to shift our carnal worldview, to overcome our human nature? Certainly this type of discriminatory speech offends plenty of people. To keep from offending or excluding anyone, we would have to abandon the most fundamental principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, those of sin, repentance, and faith in Christ as Savior.

"Christ was always among the sick and afflicted because the whole have no need of a physician." This is incomplete and humanist by itself. This argument is also inconsistent with a church that has publicly conceded that there is nothing disordered or "unwhole" about the gay identity; unrepentant gays would certainly take offense at this. The scriptures exist primarily for our spiritual health, not our earthly health. Christ's miraculous healings of physical ailments were symbolic of the possibility of his healing our spiritual ills, just as he overcame physical death so we might have immortality. The cultural embrace of homosexuality is a symptom of deep spiritual illness not being addressed that has been developing for some time.

"All are invited to come and participate so that we can help one another." This is dangerous in its arrogant simplicity if we're talking about wickedness. The truth is, some people do not want to be included in anything godly. They want to remake the church into their own image, to refit the church to their proclivities rather than fitting their proclivities to the church. They are rebelling against God and are about very patiently destroying the kingdom of God on earth and making everyone as miserable as they are. When Alma saw the people of his brand new church beginning to labor in iniquity because wolves had entered the fold and were teaching them to sin, he asked the Lord what to do. How should he handle those who were members of the church but leading others astray? The Lord- yes, Jesus Christ- told Alma to protect his church by excommunicating the unrepentant sinners. To blot out their names. But as many times as they humbled themselves and repented, they were to be welcomed back. In other words, unrepentant sinners were to be called on their sins, taught to "sin no more," and invited to return to the fold. Just as then, today, although visitors are welcome, willful apostates must be disciplined to keep order and integrity in the church. The only way to access the Atonement is through humble repentance. Everyone is free to take it or leave it, but churches must not abandon their doctrines. If they do they cease to be of God, and if they are not of God, we can know whom they serve.

It is essential to point out that the openly self-identified homosexuals churches are suddenly so eager to include in their congregations and youth groups and boy scout troops are not repentant. They have embraced deviant sexuality, pretending they cannot control their thoughts and feelings, insisting it is who they are, and as such are rebelling against God, nature, and God's plan of agency and salvation through Christ.

Bold as they are, they have obviously been conditioned and trained in activism. (This conditioning is highly cultural and also systematic through gay-affirming organizations and online.) And they are not the only casualties of this godless movement. The rest of us are, too, in one way or another. Those who ignorantly and unquestioningly go along with this movement are being deceived and led astray, committing sins of their own and encouraging homosexuality in others. On the other hand, those who are standing for their deeply-held scriptural beliefs, traditional values, and God’s truth are being shamed and lectured, pronounced unChristlike. Considering the power a hierarchal church has to demand requirements and withhold privileges from its members, this amounts to being coerced into approving of homosexuality or at least coerced into pretending we approve. For whatever reasons, in one generation churches gone from standing for truth and righteousness to shaming and punishing truth and righteousness and encouraging sinners on their road to hell.

Indeed, completely unnecessarily and incomprehensibly, because we have been told that the gay identity is not a disorder, not a sin, and not changeable, homosexuality is now to be considered righteous, healthy, and permanent! We’re to believe that whatever cool, trendy thing a person says about himself concerning his gender and sexuality, at any age, contrary to reality and the Family Proclamation and the scriptures, is worthy of our intellectual, moral, and spiritual respect. If a person who decides he is gay and announces it to the world is at all famous, he might even get a phone call from the President of the United States commending him for his “courage!”

Those of us who resist this nonsense and hold fast to truth and goodness are now being lectured in scriptural language and called unChristlike by our ecclesiastical leaders unless we abandon our religious beliefs and deeply held moral values. How can anyone deny that this is nothing less that spiritual abuse? It is certainly nothing less than persecuting the humble followers of Christ under the pretense of religion. Followers of Christ are supposed to be at war with the world, not following in its wicked wake. Are people really so blind as to deny that churches everywhere are falling in line in the Great Gay Pride Parade?

Without morality, there is no Christ. We can be as inclusive and kind as we wish, but we are not disciples of Christ unless we uphold God’s laws come what may. Accepting homosexuality as a respectable, healthy, righteous identity is the very opposite of Christlike. It is tantamount to encouraging these deceived, troubled, and rebellious people along the miserable road to hell. The worst of it is unquestioningly accepting the gay identity in children and teenagers, young, vulnerable, impressionable souls, indoctrinated and damaged by a godless, lawless culture, who don’t even know what homosexuality really is and are nevertheless being encouraged at a young age into an extremely harmful mindset and lifestyle by the people they trust most!

Do mature grownups really think that embracing a young person’s homosexual identity (or pretending to) is going to help him resist acting on his misguided, raging, impulsive hormones? (Homosexual lust is said to be much harder to resist than heterosexual lust because of its extreme and perverse nature. The scriptures call it “men burning in their lusts toward their one another.”)
On the contrary, it is implicitly giving gayness the bright green light. It is loving the sin and hating the sinner.

The Word was not made flesh just to teach us to “do unto others;” he came to make us new spiritual creatures fit for eternal life. This must involve faith in Christ as Savior, repentance, and the Holy Ghost, and the results will have us doing unto others more effectively, according to God’s will and out of love for God first.

The argument for inclusion by itself it is completely irreligious. On this level it is a pretense of religion devoid of all distinctively religious elements. For Christianity to be Christianity, rather than mere neighborliness, we must emphasize such basic eternal principles as law, sin, punishment, redemption, and salvation. The kind of love Christianity is really about is divine love, the kind God has, the kind that made Him send His Son so we might not perish spiritually but have everlasting life.

It’s as if supposedly religious people have really come to believe there is no such thing as sin, even though we have the Scriptures screaming this reality at us! We’d rather fit more comfortably in the world. Yes, it’s awfully convenient. It turns sins into “challenges” and unspeakable depravity into a respectable identity.

Alas, the shoe is now on the other foot. Right is being held up as wrong, and wrong as right, not just in our culture but in our schools, churches and every aspect of society formerly espousing traditional values. The devil’s servants are enjoying great success. True followers of Christ are going to have to walk in the strength of Christ and bear his cross, lose friends and family, lose societal approval and position, suffer all manner of social, spiritual, moral, and psychological abuse in order not to become participants in not only the gay parade but in the vaporousness and hypocrisy overtaking our congregations. We’re to wish the best for our enemies, do good to them that persecute us, and be steadfast and unwavering in all that is true and good, come what may.

That, friends, is Christlike.

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Help for parents who want to teach their families the truth about today's stampeding sexuality. Click here to learn about/order this and other books.

If you had asked me nine years ago why I had chosen to be gay, I would have answered you as I did countless times before, "I did not choose to be gay! I chose to be a Seventh-day Adventist Christian. I chose to be educated in Seventh-day Adventist Christian schools. I chose to be a student missionary. I chose to earn a degree in Theology and to graduate with honors. I chose to marry a Seventh-day Adventist young lady. I chose to have Seventh-day Adventist babies. I did not choose to be gay! I just finally came to grips with reality and accepted the fact that I was gay. I came to believe that I was born gay."

For years after my "coming out" of the closet and experiencing the devastating breakup of my home, I dared anyone to tell me that my "condition" was a matter of choice. I had made all the right "choice" in my life. While struggling with the nagging yearnings of my heart, I had prayed relentlessly that God would "Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me." I wanted God to help me to love and to be in love with my wife. But, all my efforts were of no avail.

Finally, I succumbed to those nagging yearnings and fell into the "gay" life of homosexual relationships, totally convinced that my "condition," or "behavior," was not the result of my willful choice. What Christian would willingly choose to be so radically out of sync with society, and the church? I had to be either the victim of my own environment, or just born that way.

My parents, friends, and family all thought of me as a gentle person, thoughtful and considerate of others. In their eyes I was intelligent, likeable, courteous, and talented in many areas. Most of all, I was known to be deeply spiritual.

The Tensions of My "Gay" Lifestyle

Upon entering the "gay" lifestyle, I still live up to that image, except that I was no longer "deeply spiritual." I refused to be a hypocrite. There was no way I could reconcile my homosexuality with the calling to be part of the Remnant people who love God and keep His commandments. To me the Bible was very clear in teaching that "homosexual offenders" will not enter the Kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:9).

Looking back upon the years spent in the "gay" lifestyle, I can honestly say that my life became full of disgusting, depraved, and perverted behavior. Like every homosexual I knew, I became lustful and obsessed with sex. In public and among friends, however, I masterfully maintained the image of a decent, gentle, thoughtful, polite, considerate person, both loving and lovable.

Before returning to God, for sixteen years I blamed Him for everything wrong with my life, especially my homosexuality, because I had prayed that He would take it away, and He had not. So, I reason, It was God's fault, not my own if I was "gay."

During those self-serving years of "love," promiscuity, pleasure, self-exaltation, and self-gratification, I experienced much loneliness, misery and heartache.

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SoL Quote: "The Boy Scouts of America . . . chose to undermine the century old values of the Boy Scouts by giving into the pressures of a group of people who promote a perverted and sinful lifestyle. The Boy Scout leaders did the very thing that they taught millions of boys never to do - compromise their moral values.
I know that I can no longer endorse or recommend the Boy Scouts to anyone. In fact, I would encourage every parent to seek out other options, perhaps church groups for boys that would teach them some of the things that the Boy Scouts teach. If there aren't any church programs in your area, find out what it would take to start one. If that's not an option, then take the time that your sons would normally spend with the Boy Scouts and you spend it with them, teaching them and preparing them to be upright young men who value their relationship with you, with Jesus Christ and to never compromise their values. Those are the men our nation needs."--Dave Jolly, in Political Outcast, 5/25/13
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The Boy Scouts' Folly: Putting Sexual Morality Up For A Vote

By Peter LaBarbera

May 23, 2013 was a sad day for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and another tragic day for an America in decline. The Scouts' corporate-driven leaders in their folly put sexual morality up for a vote, and when it was all over, the Scouts as we once knew them - a God-fearing, wholesome organization - were finished. Now, truly "morally straight" organizations (to quote the Scout Oath) will rise up to compete with the corrupted BSA, and parents by the hundreds of thousands will migrate with their sons to these trustworthy alternatives.

This was a completely unnecessary capitulation. The equivocating Scouts somehow managed to snatch defeat from their hard-won victory in the Supreme Court in 2000 - which preserved the Scouts' right to live by their own moral creed. Now they have eviscerated that creed, thus rewarding the very Homosexual Lobby that tormented the BSA since its high court triumph.

Pursuing godliness and virtue is not a democratic exercise but a walk of obedience. Truth is transcendent; it is not decided by polls or votes. (Two men or two women will never truly be "married.") We all fall short and hence need a Savior, but absolute Truth never changes. God - not man - sets the Standard for proper living. Allowing boys who identify with and, presumably, engage in homosexual behavior is the opposite of virtue - and certainly wasn't a Scouting value in my father's and grandfather's America.

Let's cut through all the pro-"gay" noise that infests most discussions of this issue. Practicing homosexuality is a destructive lifestyle choice and a sin. It is immoral, against Nature, and changeable - as evidenced by the countless men (like Michael Glatze) and women (like Charlene Cothran) who once proudly considered themselves "gay" but now live in accordance with God's natural design for their bodies.

Homosexuality is not the basis for healthy self-identity. "Sexual orientation" is an artificial construct because homosexuality is not "who you are," it's what you do. And when people make sinful choices bad things happen. (I should add that most homosexuals come from troubled backgrounds, including: dysfunctional parent-child relationships; lack of a father; divorced households; early sexualization; and sexual predator abuse. But these "causes" - while meriting our pity and understanding - do not condone the behavioral choice of embracing a homosexual lifestyle.)

Homosexuality is about as natural, normal and healthy as a tongue piercing.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the Americans for Truth website.

Becoming Whole AgainName Withheld
(This is an article from the January 1997 Ensign Magazine.
It describes how the author overcame same-sex attraction. -Ed.)

I grew up in a warm and loving Latter-day Saint family. I've always attended church, I graduated from seminary, I served an honorable mission, and I even taught at the Missionary Training Center while attending Brigham Young University. To top it off, I am married for time and eternity to a wonderful wife. Why would someone like me face the trial of same-gender attraction?

I don't know all the reasons for this weakness of mine, but I'm certain that some experiences I had beginning at age six contributed. I had a young uncle who was very kind to me, but he taught me some activities that were inappropriate. Sensing that those activities were wrong, when I turned eight and was baptized I vowed to stay away from my uncle-and I succeeded. However, I longed for my uncle's attention and sometimes tried to seek a substitute with childhood friends. Usually they would no longer be my friends, and often I felt very guilty, bad, and unloved.

As I learned later through study, prayer, and counseling, same-sex attraction is often a misguided feeling motivated by a longing for true brotherly love or a desire for masculine characteristics one feels he lacks. My father is a good, hard-working man, but he was seldom home while I was growing up, which in my case contributed somewhat to my emotional deficit. As I grew older, I immersed myself in school activities and mostly avoided anything related to the immoral behaviors I had learned as a child, though I still sometimes felt attracted to other males.

By my later teenage years, my situation seemed much improved. I fell in love with my wife-to-be during high school, and we wrote faithfully to each other during my mission. When I returned home, I felt confident and full of life. I loved my BYU studies, my MTC teaching job, and visiting my future wife, who at the time lived in another city. During this season of happiness, I finally felt free of my past weaknesses. Looking back, however, I recognize that I had not yet overcome the deep-rooted patterns of same-gender attraction.

One night on my way home from visiting my fiancée, I somehow found myself in a predicament I never should have been in. After that evening, I was devastated. I knew I had to tell my fiancée the truth-and more than 10 years later, I feel I am only just beginning to understand the grief I have caused her. After visiting with my bishop and stake president and after much soul-searching on both our parts, we decided to proceed with our marriage plans. Everyone involved felt I was repentant and back on track.

Unfortunately, that episode was only the beginning. Marriage has been called a crucible that brings out either our best or our worst, and that was certainly true for me. I began breaking commandments again soon after we were married. From time to time I used alcohol in association with immoral experiences, and I was often dishonest. For many years I was trapped in a deadly cycle: sin, remorse, what I felt was true repentance, and then back to sin. I tried to blame others for my problems, but I could not escape the fact that I was the one choosing to engage in wrong behavior. For years I tried to overcome my sins alone, without seeking sufficient help from Church leaders and other sources of support.

Finally my wife, having gradually come to a realization of the extent of my sins, reluctantly decided she could no longer put up with my behavior. She told me that I either needed to seek help or leave her and our two beautiful children. Feeling desperate, I checked into a hospital psychiatric ward to see if I could gain some control over my life.

The hospital staff very compassionately helped me deal with my childhood pains and my alcohol-related issues, but I soon found out what many professionals think about same-gender attraction: you are born with it, and the only way you will ever be happy is to accept it. However, my wife and I refused to believe it. It just did not make sense. Heavenly Father put us on this earth to fulfill a divine destiny that can be accomplished when a man and woman join in temple marriage-and, like Nephi, we know that "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" (1 Ne. 3:7). Despite the opposition I faced at the hospital, I felt determined to overcome my iniquities.

Click here to read the remainder of this article on the LDS Church website.

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SoL Quote: "Until we recognize Homosexuality for what it really is, having compassion on those affected and offer help for them to overcome the problem - instead of refusing to admit there even is a problem and passing it off as just "another qurk" in morally normal and healthy sexuality - the "problem" will not go away. Influence by association is real and powerful - especially for young impressionable youth."

August 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A study led by Susan Cochran and her team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry, reports that homosexuals seek treatment for mental health issues or substance abuse at a rate over two times higher than heterosexuals.

The study of 2074 people interviewed in the California Health Interview Survey found that 48.5% of homosexual and bisexual individuals reported receiving psychiatric or drug abuse treatment in the past year as compared to 22.5% of heterosexuals.

When the research results were broken down by gender, the report states that lesbians and bisexual women received the most medical treatment and heterosexual men received the least.

"It is well known that health services utilization is greater among women generally," Cochran commented. "Here we have shown that minority sexual orientation is also an important consideration. Lesbians and bisexual women appear to be approximately twice as likely as heterosexual women to report having received recent treatment for mental health or substance use disorders."

Cochran concludes that, "The pervasive and historically rooted societal pathologizing of homosexuality may contribute to this propensity for treatment by construing homosexuality and issues associated with it as mental health problems."

However, critics of the accepted secular interpretation that mental illness in homosexuals is due to discrimination have pointed out that in countries where homosexuality has been "normalized", the numbers of homosexuals seeking medical intervention for a wide range of mental and medical conditions including major depression, suicidal ideation and attempts, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse, are virtually the same as reported in the California study.

Stephen Graham, President of SoL, was interviewed by Peter LaBarbera and John Kirkwood of AFTAH (Americans for Truth About Homosexuality) 5/16/2013. See the AFTAH website, and listen to the podcast. The topic was the Boy Scouts, institutional softening on homosexuality.

"It is the duty of parents, poets, artists, and educators [and clergy], to train young people in making the proper emotional responses, for without trained emotions peoplBoy Scoue do not have the motivation to behave morally." Doris T. Myers in Reading the Classics with C. S. Lewis

It's time for public schools' maturation programs. Because Planned Parenthood and the like have insidiously and widely hijacked these events, you may want to check out your child's school program to make sure it is in keeping with your family values. We have studied PP's presentation and found it grossly inappropriate, slanted, co-ed, and linked to material encouraging all sorts of sex for kids. Click here to see it and click here to read our assessment.

Be sure to preview your school's entire presentation and materials. Parents may opt their child out.

If your school's program conflicts with your ideals, we have a solution. "Growing Up is Natural and New" for girls and "Growing Up Basics" for Boys are each about 15 minutes long, prepared by us and the Family Action Council Team and Utah Education Coalition. Access it on our website (at the top of the center column), on Youtube ( boys or girls), or we can send you a complementary PowerPoint presentation disk (just send an email request with your name and address to sgraham@standardofliberty.org).

We were told that Utah's Governor Herbert endorsed Planned Parenthood's presentation but refused to consider or endorse ours or anything like it. As far as we know, he later rescinded his PP endorsement because of pressure from traditional values groups, but is allowing schools to continue using it.

We tested our 15-minute presentation last year on a small group of fifth-grade girls in a home setting with their mothers. Even in this safe place, the girls showed some signs of natural modesty and embarrassment learning about sensitive issues concerning natural body functions such as menstruation. Can you imagine how they feel, and what damaging notions are put into their heads, in a public school setting when such things are inappropriately and falsely presented?

Our purpose in producing these materials is solely to assist schools and parents in teaching children age-appropriate facts supported by proper attitudes and values. In the current culture that uses every opportunity to push destructive notions such as androgyny and unlimited sexuality on the rising generation, proper proactive teaching is sorely needed.

Pass it on!

Help for parents who want to teach their families the truth about today's stampeding sexuality. Click here to learn about/order this and other books.

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SoL Quote: "If we reflect on the dreadful consequences of sodomy to the state, and on the extent to which this abominable vice may be secretly carried on and spread; we cannot, on the principles of sound policy, consider the punishment as too severe. For if it once begins to prevail, not only will boys be easily corrupted by adults, but also by other boys, nor will it ever cease; more especially as it must thus soon lose all its shamefulness and infamy and become fashionable and the national taste; and then . . . national weakness, for which all remedies are ineffectual, most inevitably follow; not perhaps in the first generation, but certainly in the course of the third or fourth . . . To these evils may be added yet another, viz. that the constitutions of those men who submit to this degradation are, if not always, yet very often, totally destroyed, though in a different way from what is the result of whoredom. Whoever, therefore, wishes to ruin a nation, has only to get this vice introduced; for it is extremely difficult to extirpate it where it has once taken root because it can be propagated with much secrecy . . . and when we perceive that it has once got a footing in any country, however powerful and flourishing, we may venture as politicians to predict that the foundation of its future decline is laid and that after some hundred years it will no longer be the same . . . powerful country it is at the present."
--Sir John David Michaelis, 1814
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The Gay Marriage Fraud
Janice Graham
April 22, 2013

Gays say they want equal rights. They insist that marriage is a right. Well, even if marriage was a right, gays, like everyone else, already have it. But that isn't what they are really saying. What they are really saying is that they want the right to be recognized as married to someone of their same sex. This is not marriage. The chimerical notion of gay marriage is diametrically opposed to marriage, an entirely different animal. The gay marriage movement is not about demanding something equal to marriage; it's about manufacturing something different than marriage and pretending it's the same thing.

Lawrence v. Texas, 2003, in essence caused the abandonment of one of civilized society's basic sexual boundaries. Because of the pushes and pressures of Godless contemporary culture, we now champion, model, even teach homosexual behaviors, maladaptive behaviors that inordinately spread deadly disease and are harmful to the human body. The consequences can only be destructive. Given the green light to sodomy, but still not anywhere near satisfied, the gay movement proceeds to hijack the marriage institution, dishonestly equating the practice of sodomy and the like to holy matrimony.

No matter how much they love each other, two men or two women cannot do marriage because they cannot do the thing that constitutes biological conjugal relations. In other words, they cannot do the thing that makes babies. Yes, they apparently do lots of things together that stimulate sexual feelings; pornography and masturbation, which are done all by oneself, do that too. Of course none of it constitutes mating. In fact, those dead-ended behaviors aren't good for anybody the way real marriage is. In fact, just as a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, because homosexuality is unnatural and harmful, absolutely nothing good can come of it in the long run.

It is understood that marriage includes the sexual union between opposite sexes. In fact, it's long been understood that the only place for sex is marriage (and we're talking about proper sexual relations). Yes, this rule has always been broken, and is being broken right and left nowadays, but that doesn't mean it isn't right and good. It's good for marriage, which means it's good for children and society as a whole. Even if rules are often broken, they are still essential to order and prosperity. Wise people know that human sexuality is a serious thing. If the sexual appetite is misused, somebody gets hurt. Thus our society still regards many sexual vices as criminal, punishable by law.

Many people caught up in this bizarre movement are damaged pawns who have developed misplaced sexual feelings. These confused people are being shamelessly exploited in a movement that is not really about sex but about upturning the order of a society based on God and His laws. Destroying limits on sexuality is just one of many vehicles that can accomplish this goal.

Eat, drink, and be merry. If it feels good do it. This life is all there is. Self-interest is all that matters. Any rule that conflicts with what we want is worthless and out-of-date. These are the clarion calls of this generation. As a result, many people don't seem to value what used to be prized above all, essential things like posterity, sanity, character, honesty, fidelity, sacrifice, rightness, and goodness. The funny thing is, every half-way decent person really does greatly value these things; when it gets personal they have to admit it. But they are usually so brainwashed in the emotional "cause" of the moment, they don't see that right principles must apply across the board or will be publicly abandoned eventually to the detriment of all.

Gay marriage? A misnamed wholesale fraud that thumbs its nose at reality, health, truth, and humanity. Embracing it with all its lies will only add to the destruction of a once strong and striving civilization.

Boy Scouts to Allow Gay Youth?
Email exchange between an SoL subscriber and a local scout leader

Here is the original email sent by our SoL subscriber to BSA and the local scout leader
On Sat, Apr 20, 2013 at 11:27 PM, Mxxx Gxxxxx <mxxx@bxxxxx.com> wrote:
to nationalsuppor., Mxxx.hxxx,

Dear BSA:

I'm writing to support your current membership policies, and to urge you not to cave to political pressure and change your policies.

Boy Scouts is one of the most meaningful and important things in my life, and has been for the past 30 years. I now have a son who is a Boy Scout.

Should BSA change this policy, I would have no choice but to resign as an Assistant Scout Master, and remove myself and my son from among your ranks.

This is a slippery slope you're stepping on to. In the community of those troubled with same-sex-attraction and gender identity, "Gay" represents a small subset their numbers. Don't forget about Lesbian, Transgender, Transexual, Bisexual, Unisexual, Pansexual, Omnisexual, etc. They'll all want consideration, and specific mention in your policies.

I'm a member of an LDS Troop in Utah, and I take my role as Asst. Scoutmaster seriously (as I have with various roles in the BSA for the past 10 years). I do not think that most members of my Church will have the guts to walk away from something that will only deteriorate my sons and my spirituality, water down his understanding of gender and the roles genders have in society, and confuse him about sex and sexuality at an age when he shouldn't be involved in sex or sexuality. The BSA is no longer in the business of making responsible and good men. You're in the business of "giving everyone an equal experience."

I'll be sad if you make this part of your official policy, but will respect your right as a private organization to do so. You'll just have to do so with our me, or my son. My eagle award is on my desk, ready to ship back to you.

Ironically, looking for the appropriate contact to send this to, I found this on my home councils web page:

Firstly, neither I nor those you addressed in our district will be attending the National Scout meeting in late May nor are we eligible to vote on a resolution that may recommend a change in BSA's membership policy.

Secondly, our council already decided its position and is sending 17 designate individuals who will be voting as a block on any proposed membership policy change. These individuals will be among approximately 1,700 voting members across the U.S. who are authorized to vote.

Thirdly, the media is presently reporting that BSA is proposing a policy change, yet without providing the complete text of a formal resolution that must be presented to each council and all charter partner organizations.

Fourthly, each scouting partner organization will review any membership policy change as put forth in a formal resolution and decide how they will vote and how or whether they will support the final outcome of said vote. We should not pre-judge either the vote outcome nor what any charter partner organization will decide and recommend to members of said charter partner organization.

Fifthly, as individuals, we make choices and live by these choices. This notwithstanding, I suggest waiting for the outcome then listen to the counsel and rationale each charter partner organization will provide, regarding its decision, to the scouting leaders in the units it sponsors before making and acting on any personal decision.

This is obviously an emotional issue, and I'm glad that our council is taking it seriously.

I realize the decision has not yet been made, and I pray daily that the BSA body will vote to keep the policy as is. I'd love nothing more than to remain in scouts along with my son.

I admit that my faith in the organization was shaken when the BSA decided to further investigate this issue just after reaffirming their long-standing position. At that time, I got the idea that it's only a matter of time before the policy is radically changed... either all at once, or bit by bit over a long time. I still hope I'm wrong. Boy do I hope I'm wrong.

I realize that it's likely that the charter organization will still be able to set their own policies... but that is little consolation. If the attitude of the organization changes, so will their values, literature, awards, and goals. That will no doubt seep into our own version of scouting over time. At some point we'll be skipping sections of the handbook, and avoiding certain merit badges. Believe me... those interested in promoting this gay agenda are not simply wishing to humbly be included so they can learn skills and enjoy the outdoors, or develops morals... they won't stop at a policy change. They are here to transform the organization into one that validates and promotes their lifestyle and choices. The BSA is already that kind of organization! I can't see it working both ways without some devastating compromises.

I'll take your suggestion and wait for the outcome... but I can't shake this pit in my stomach either.

I, too, have mixed feelings about a potential membership policy change and its downstream implications on our youth, our values and the future of the organization.

This said, Scouts Canada changed its membership policy about 2005 not only to allow same-sex attraction members but to even allow girls to join Scouting units subject to the policies of the sponsoring partner. Nation wide membership dropped throughout Canada since this change, yet the LDS Church elected to continue partnering with Scouts Canada with a waiver that they will not be required to accept girls in Scouting units.

Given the LDS Church's recently announced web site reaching out to members who find themselves facing and dealing with same sex attraction and inviting these individuals to come and participate with the body of the church, I will wait for a decision and will carefully and prayerfully study the decision and supporting rationale for guidance.

Lastly, there are many members today who deal with this issue at a very deep and personal level, who participate actively, who live celibate lives, who have callings, and even have temple recommends. We love them and include them in our lives.

Thank you for sharing your concerns, which are noted and trust me when I say you are not alone. The council leadership is well aware of the full spectrum of thoughts, concerns and implications surrounding a potential membership policy change. I have participated in discussions with our council leadership at many levels and know they are not taking this matter lightly.

Just a few Sunday morning thoughts. Let's enjoy a beautiful day.

Cheers,

Mxxx

This is the last thing the SoL subscriber sent him . . .
"because of his ridiculous 'We love them and include them' comment.'"

I should say that I make a distinction between those who are troubled with same-sex-attraction, and those who are "gay". SSA is like any other temptation in my opinion. It's something we have to work at overcoming, maybe throughout our whole lives. Those with that attitude do not fall into any category that should be excluded from scouts or church activity. You're right... these people should participate actively, have callings and recommends and be included. They're no different that I am... struggling everyday to repent and apply the atonement in their lives.

However, there are those who profess to being "gay"- meaning they identify themselves by this sin which is, according to them, unchangeable, intentional (by God) and good and right. This is where my problem lies.

Mxxx

- - - - - - - - - -
SoL Quote: "It is a wicked, wicked world in which we live and in which our children must find their way. Challenges of pornography, gender confusion, immorality, child abuse, drug addiction, and all the rest are everywhere. There is no way to escape from their influence. Some are led by curiosity into temptation, then in experimentation, and some become trapped in addiction. They lose hope. The adversary harvests his crop and binds them down. Satan is the deceiver, the destroyer, but his is a temporary victory. The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape and are compelled to live in sin. The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent and that they will not be forgiven. That cannot be true. They have forgotten the Atonement of Christ."
--Boyd K. Packer, May 2006
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Five Gay Marriage Mythsby Robin Phillips

Myth #1: Marriage is fundamentally a voluntary union of persons in a committed relationship

We tend to think of language as something posterior to thought. A thought comes into your mind and then you find the right words to express it. Anthropologists and neuroscientists are currently doing some fascinating work on the relationship between thought and speech and have discovered that things are a little more complicated. Speech does not merely proceed from our thoughts like a one-way street. Rather, researchers have been finding that there is also traffic flowing in the other direction: how we speak affects how we think about the world on a level that our conscious minds may never even be aware. As psychologist Lera Boroditsky put it in a Wall Street Journal articlesummarizing some of this research, "the structures in languages (without our knowledge or consent) shape the very thoughts we wish to express".

There are fascinating examples of this from all over the world, but the phenomenon is just as evident close to home. In the last forty years, we've seen how the way people speak about unborn children (i.e., calling them "foetuses" or "lumps of tissue" instead of babies) has had an unconscious effect on how so many people think about the ethics of abortion. Or again, how we think about homosexuality has been enormously influenced by pairing homosexuality with words that already had a positive semantic range, such as gay. In David Kupelian book The Marketing of Evil, he showed that these and many other language shifts did not just happen, but arose out of a deliberate strategy for changing the way Westerners perceive certain key issues.

By introducing changes in how we speak, the media often changes how we think.

The same thing is now occurring in the debate over same-sex marriage. Almost without anyone taking notice, our society has begun to talk about marriage as a voluntary union of persons in a committed relationship, rather than a union of a man and a woman. Never before has marriage been spoken about in this way and the implications are profound. Because of how the brain works, this shift in how we talk about marriage has been attendant to a shift in how we think about marriage. Unconsciously we begin wondering: if marriage is really the union of persons in a committed and loving relationship, why shouldn't gay people be allowed to participate in this institution?

As same-sex marriage was discussed in the public discourse of various English-speaking countries (first Canada, then Britain, and now America), it was almost universally taken for granted not simply that marriageought to refer to the union of persons, but that the essence of marriage always has been the union of persons. As a result, less and less people, even among the Christian community, understand marriage to be intrinsically and inviolably heterosexual.

Let's consider what it would mean if marriage has always been the union of two persons, with the gender of those persons being accidental in an Aristotelian sense. We are then claiming that the union of a man and woman has always been a variant of the union of persons, that biology and the possibility of reproduction were never at the core of what marriage is but additions to it, that consummation was never central to the completion of a marriage since only practical when the "union of persons" happened to be members of the opposite sex, that "man and wife" were never something that made a relationship a marriage but were always a species of the genus "union of persons."

The only problem with construing marriage in these terms is that this has never been how it was understood, even among cultures like ancient Rome which might have been most inclined to understand marriage as the union of persons. Those who take this view are thus pushed into the corner of having to acknowledge that throughout most of human history the laws, customs, culture and language built up around marriage was based on a misunderstanding of what marriage actually was, for until recently no one understood that marriage has actually always been the union of persons.

Fewer and fewer people, even among the Christian community, understand marriage to be intrinsically and inviolably heterosexual

Now let's be clear: the fact that marriage has never been understood as a union of persons does not itself prove the new concept to be faulty. However, at a minimum it does establish that it is a new concept, a novel definition that is discontinuous with the institution of marriage as it has been understood and practice for thousands of years. This is something the champions of gay marriage are reluctant to acknowledge, since their case for "equal access" depends on maintaining some degree of continuity with the norms of an existing institution. This pretence of continuity enables them to form their arguments in quantitative terms, as if they were merely expanding the pool of people who can get legally married, rather than qualitatively altering the very essence of what marriage is.

Ever since Aristotle, the philosophical categories of accident and an essence have provided a helpful way of distinguishing between the properties of a thing that are absolutely necessary for that thing to be what it is (essential properties) and those properties which a thing may possess but that are not absolutely necessary for its existence (accidental properties). For example, the property of greenness is accidental to apples, since an apple could be red or yellow and still be an apple. But "fruitiness" is an essential property of an apple, since, if it were not a fruit, it would not be an apple.

Put another way, an accident is an attribute not definitely excluded by the essence of a thing. Being tall is thus an accidental property of a tree, since a short tree is still a tree, whereas being ligneous is an essential property, since a tree that was metallic could no longer properly be called a tree, at least not a real one.

These distinctions can be usefully applied to the debate surrounding so-called gay marriage. Those who claim that same-sex couples have a right to get married tend to assume (usually without argument) that the sex of the two people involved is an accidental rather than an essential property of marriage. If they are right, then two men or two women can make a marriage just as easily as a man and a woman can. Under this framework, gender is to marriage what color is to an apple: an accidental property, not something essential to the thing itself.

In contrast, the Christian tradition has always maintained, by pointing to Genesis 2:24 and similar passages, that the sexual complementarity of husband and wife is not accidental to marriage, but absolutely essential to it.

The Question of Banning

Earlier this year, the UK government issued a consultation to gather feedback from the British public on same-sex marriage. The paper issued in accordance with this consultation continually framed the debate in terms of "removing the ban on same-sex couples getting married." Here the government jumped ahead of itself, however, because to speak of a ban on same-sex marriage is already to assume that same-sex marriage is possible, i.e., that gender is accidental rather than essential to it; yet that is the very point at issue.

Consider a parallel case: because it is not possible for a person to marry an orange, we do not say there is (or should be) a ban on human–orange marriage, any more than we would say there is (or ought to be) a ban on the cultivation of citrus apples. The essence of what marriage is simply excludes it from being contracted between a man and an orange, just as the essence of what an apple is excludes it from being grown as a citrus fruit. In both cases, the thing itself is conceptually impossible, so it makes no sense to speak of banning it.

If we were, then, to conclude that sexual complementarity is an essential property of marriage, it would be impossible for two persons of the same sex to get married, and it would be just as meaningless to speak of banning same-sex marriage as it would be to speak of banning the cultivation of citrus apples. On the other hand, if we were to conclude that the sex of the two people involved is merely accidental to marriage, then, and only then, would we be able to speak meaningfully of either banning or permitting same-sex marriage.

So which is correct? Is gender an essential or an accidental property of marriage?

Gender Is Essential

There are a number of good reasons to think that gender complementarity is an essential property of marriage. Consider some of the concepts and conditions that marriage gives rise to: concepts such as consummation and adultery. The very existence of these concepts presupposes a notion of marriage in which the participants are members of the opposite sex. Such concepts either become confused or collapse into complete vacuity once we assert that the gender of the participants is accidental.

Thus, when gender differentiation stops being essential to the married state, consummation and adultery either cease to be meaningful or must be redefined to mean something quite different from what they currently do. This was impressed upon me when I encountered the following paragraph in the UK government's consultation document on introducing same-sex marriage to England and Wales:

Specifically, non-consummation and adultery are currently concepts that are defined in case law and apply only to marriage law. . . . However, with the removal of the ban on same-sex couples having a civil marriage, these concepts will apply equally to same-sex and opposite-sex couples and case law may need to develop, over time, a definition as to what constitutes same-sex consummation and same-sex adultery.

Think about that for a minute. The English Parliament is proposing to allow same-sex couples to get "married" even though they acknowledge they have no idea what consummation and adultery would even mean under such conditions. Instead, they are content to rest in the knowledge that, some day, the courts will create new definitions for these terms. It remains to be seen whether the new definitions will play back to affect the meaning of consummation and adultery within heterosexual contexts. Given the press for equality, it would be hard to imagine that they wouldn't.

More and more churches are making the concessions that gayness is pretty much innate and permanent in normal healthy young people and insisting that this is why we all have to embrace homosexuality as perfectly fine. This is pretty crazy for several reasons, among them, (1) science is on the nongenetic side, (2) just because people say they were born with some tendency doesn't mean it isn't bad, (3) people fall in and out of it, and (4) homosexuality is maladaptive, harmful, and condemned by God.

Still, even as they make concessions, some churches continue to maintain that acting out homosexually is prohibited. Such a church remains officially opposed to gay marriage. Apparently, open gays who say they aren't acting out (whatever that means) can enjoy full fellowship, including all the opportunities and blessings of church employment, education, missions, callings, and the church's most sacred ordinances including marriage (albeit of the "mixed orientation" variety) just as worthy heterosexuals can.

Sad to say, when we accept something in principle, it will naturally become a reality. No matter what the written rules or laws, it is public sentiment, spoken or unspoken, that will rule the day, especially in a morally relativistic and radically individualist society. So we ask, if public sentiment within a church has embraced the principle of homosexuality as normal and fine, what is going to stop the embrace within that church of gay coupling and, ultimately, of gay marriage?

If you think we're out on a limb, just hear us out. Say a legally married gay or lesbian couple moves into your congregation. (It wouldn't matter in what state they were married or if the state in which they live does not recognize same-sex marriage; it just matters that they act like a legally married couple.) How does this unfold? It isn't hard to imagine. They present themselves as a married couple when they introduce themselves. "Hi! I'm so-and-so and this is my husband/wife, so-and-so." Nobody's going to contradict them. Maybe they have children leftover from broken heterosexual relationships/marriages, they adopted, or they used sperm donors or surrogate mothers. They are legally the parents of these children. Hence, we are being handed what for all social intents and purposes functions like a marriage and perhaps a family with growing children at home. How can we pretend otherwise? At this point it appears much too late to do or say anything negative. Who would want to break up a family? Since they went to the trouble of getting married, it stands to reason they are acting out sexually, that is, homosexually, which is supposed to be prohibited by the church they belong to. But who thinks about those things? Who is going to ask? No one. They are married and it's none of our business.

- - - - - - - - - -SoL Quote: "The problems facing our nation today are not simply political, they are at their core, spiritual. Our country has strayed more and more from its founding roots and our public and insitutionas have forgotten the one true God that blessed this nation above all others. As a result, America is rotting from the inside out. The signs of decay are all around us: Men "marrying" men . . . pre-schoolers being sexualized . . . children being gunned down . . . drug use legalized . . . the Boy Scouts pressured to abandon morality . . . broken families . . . faith silenced . . . churches under attack . . . immoral leaders . . . millions of innocent unborn babies aborted . . . the list goes on and on. Yes, most of America's problems at their core are spiritual. And we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are called to be salt and light. To serve in this way, we must approach everything -- politics, culture, education, finances, all the pressing issues of the day -- from a Christian worldview."
--Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, in a letter 3/15/2013
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Even As He Is Pure

by Janice Graham
Book Review of Encompassing Charity by Joe Evans

What is charity in the true Christian sense? Is it merely an outward act, such as visiting the sick and afflicted, taking a meal to a neighbor, donating to a humanitarian cause, paying our tithes and offerings? Is the pure love of Christ mere kindness, tolerance, indulgence, or flattery, an emphasizing of the positive and an ignoring of the negative as is so often spouted by the world around us? The answer is a resounding "No," especially "if being self-concerned is the aim," writes Joe Evans, former BYU quarterback. In his refreshing book, Encompassing Charity, replete with spot-on scripture references and authoritative quotes, Evans fearlessly pops the complacent bubble of all complacent, church-going, blessings-seeking do-gooders, inviting us to step out of ourselves into the exalting light of Christ.
Evans briefly recounts his turbulent childhood and baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 12, but the bulk of the book is based on what he learned after his true conversion. Through the years he found that "those who displayed undeniable discipleship had a great effect upon me because they served with nothing to gain . . . These pure souls' charity was one of the instigators to motivate me to search the Church for truth."And as all who sincerely seek, Evans discovered the plain and precious truths of the gospel of Jesus, truths which are too often missed when pride creeps in, puffing us up and blinding us. For there is nothing else to see when we ourselves are taking up the whole picture.
I found this truly religious book blessedly short on fleeting human feelings and relations and wonderfully long on substantive faith and eternal truth. Evans says we must search our souls and examine our motives, for it is our intentions-the why behind what we do-that make up our dispositions.
Throughout the book the author points out specific common stumbling blocks that keep us from becoming truly like Christ (who showed pure selflessness of soul). No matter how much good we believe we do or have done, Evans says, "actions with selfish motives leave one empty and spiritual alone. I believe the misunderstanding of charity . . . cause[s] much of what ails us in today's world . . . Principled people with righteous motives can withstand the trials and temptations of the last days." Contrarily, poorly motivated, albeit good and right acts, "do not comply with true religion," and constitute the hypocrisy condemned by Jesus.
Because "without truth charity is not charity, " Evans indicates that the first step toward true charity is understanding basic truths, one being God's love, a love that was willing to give us a chance at everlasting life by way of the sacrifice of the Son. Knowing God loves you perfectly but that you are not perfect and need a Savior "changes what you pray for and how you respond to the roller coaster of life."
If humbly and sincerely believed, this simple knowledge should be a motivation to live the gospel fully from the inside out. It should cause us to repent, to pray, to serve, to do everything we do primarily and consciously out of a returned love for God (the first commandment). I agree with Evans that it is a basic understanding of God's perfect love and Christ's Atonement, and the gratitude and devotion that result, that "will drive consistent, righteous actions more than any other motive." Purifying our motives, or conquering "the inward man," is how we become like Christ.

- - - - - - - - - -SoL Quote: “Pornography [addiction] has become a huge, huge issue . . . most often [for] males from the ages of 11 on up . . . [spanning] all cultures, religions, and classes. With the advent of the Internet . . . the average age of initially viewing pornography is 5 years old . . . ‘We tell people that if you don’t get this problem taken care of, it’ll kill you.’”
--Lexie Kite quoting Dr. Matthew Hedelius, The Herald Journal, 2006
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A note we received from one of our subscribers

Dear Stephen and Janice:

Recently my daughter went to visit my granddaughter's high school to check to see what, if anything was needed for graduation.

She told me that she was appalled at the behavior of the kids hanging around the big open area. Groups of kids were standing, or sitting, (not in classes) and when she had to walk through the assemblage some of the boys started cat-calling and whistling (as she is attractive at 38) and being very disrespectful. Girls were all over girls - holding hands, hugging, kissing; and there were boys doing the same thing. Girls were half dressed, wearing hot pants. Many of the kids sported tattoos and piercings.

Homosexuality is growing so fast. One man wrote to me that he felt that this generation didn't have a chance because they have been oriented in their schools and in movies and TV that all this sexual and disrespectful behavior is acceptable. I thought about that and I believe that we have to start talking to the parents for the Lord has said that in cases like that when the parents no longer teach correct principles, then the sins of the children will be upon their heads. What a mess. And what condemnation.

When I talked with my granddaughters about the situation there the younger said, "Now you know Grama why I want to graduate early and get out of high school." She has worked hard so that in her senior year, she will only have one class to attend. I'm proud of her! She saw the danger, and took it upon herself to get out of a bad situation. The elder granddaughter has been struggling to find out who she is in light of all the crummy examples around her. Now I understand. She is not into homosexuality, but with all the rebellion she is struggling with two opposing forces - follow the Church's teaching, or become like these other rebellious teens who have no respect even for one another. Perhaps home schooling is the answer.

Anyway, I don't think parents are even visiting the schools any more. How many sit in classes to see what is being taught? How many are asking questions which relate to their children? How many are reading the texts? How many talk to their children about what went on at the school that day?

I read recently of an incident that sickened me. A college teacher told his students to write the name of Jesus Christ on a piece of paper, then he told them to throw it on the ground and then step on it. Only one student, who was LDS, refused and quickly came under condemnation by the school. Its under review right now. Do we know what is happening to our children? Are we being supportive if they take a stand for the right? Do we encourage them?

Again, thank you for doing what you can to sharpen our awareness as to how fast wickedness is progressing, and I thank you for helping to bring darkness into the light so it can be destroyed.

Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman has come out in favor of same-sex "marriage" because one of his sons has announced that he is homosexual.

My heart goes out to Sen. Portman and his wife. As the mother of a homosexual child, I understand how Sen. Portman feels. It is not easy, but as a responsible parent I must stand firm in my belief that marriage must remain as that of a man and a woman. To deliberately deny children a mother or father by supporting genderless marriage will create grave consequences. All children do best who live in a society where healthy relationships come from living with and being exposed to both genders.

President Ronald Reagan never let his children's liberal views get in the way of his running the nation according to his conservative philosophy. He did what he felt was right for his country, no matter how much it angered his son and daughter. President Reagan's unwavering beliefs left a legacy that younger politicians now strive to emulate for their generation.

The two gay couples who successfully sued their states to institute same-sex marriage are now divorced. Couples Julie & Hillary Goodridge of Massachusetts and Robin Tyler & Diane Olsen of California have divorced each other. One of the first gay couples to wed in New York, Katie Marks & Dese Rae Stage, is now also divorced. Attempts to legislate and force genderless marriage on society for financial gain and societal approval does not generate either, and after their battle to marry was won, it did nothing to keep these couples together.

What I, like tens of millions of Americans, think is best for society may seem like lack of support for homosexual people. Not so. As responsible members of society, we must look to what is best for the culture as a whole. All of my children, homosexual and heterosexual, benefit by living in a free society that is made possible only by legal and cultural encouragement of strong, mother-father-based families.

Marriage reaches beyond the individuals involved and affects society from top to bottom. A genderless society creates more problems than it solves. Children do best when raised by a mother and father. Which parent would Sen. Portman have missed if he had been raised by male homosexuals or a lesbian couple? Would he rather give up his Mom or his Dad? As adults looking back on our childhood, would any one of us have forfeited our mother or father and not have noticed? Yet children manufactured with anonymous sperm sellers or rent-a-surrogates and acquired by same-sex couples for self-gratification live with this kind of discrimination from the moment of conception.

As the executive director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), I believe parents do not have to approve of everything their children do and say. Responsible parenting means loving and respecting our children in spite of our differences.

The gay lobby insists that parents can love their children only if they affirm same-sex "marriage," and, sadly, that's what they are teaching our children. Don't believe it, Sen. Portman. An organization comprised largely of parents of homosexual children, PFOX knows that parents and children can love one another unconditionally, without stipulations or strings attached. Parents like Sen. Portman and me can love our children without having to support genderless marriage.

Sen. Portman, we invite you to rethink your recent statement and for you and your wife to become honorary members of PFOX. We welcome you with open arms.

While the White House says sequestration has eliminated funds for children touring the White House, President Obama has no problem spending $350 million federal tax dollars for sexual indoctrination programs starting in kindergarten for those same children.

This is not your grandmother's sex education about how things work and what can go "wrong." In fact, the exact opposite is the essence of the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP): Obamacare funnels $75 million annually into PREP, which must be used exclusively for Planned Parenthood-style "comprehensive" sex ed programs where no type of sex is wrong and the only sexual behavior PP considers "unsafe" is becoming pregnant.

More than one-fourth of the funds - $20 million - has been awarded to a coalition of six Planned Parenthood affiliates, operating under the name Northwest Coalition for Adolescent Health, to implement HHS's TOP program across Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska at over 50 sites. In Oregon schools, Planned Parenthood is paying children cash incentives to participate.

PP is funded with our tax dollars to market sex to our children in our schools under the guise of sex education, anti-bullying, diversity, and tolerance. Once sexualized, those children then become PP sex customers for contraceptives, STD testing, and abortion.

"A glance at the teacher outline for Lesson 1A, the introductory lesson (page 12 of the linked PowerPoint presentation), shows exactly how abstinence plays out in the sex-encouraging scheme at Planned Parenthood. 'Abstinence,' it says, 'means choosing not to do any sexual activity that carries a risk for pregnancy or STD/HIV,'" says Rita Diller, national director for STOPP.org. "In other words, abstinence has nothing do with abstaining from sex acts. So long as the student avoids STDs and pregnancy, and is comfortable with what he or she is doing, it's an anything goes.

No matter what lies are currently popular, no matter how they are disguised to look like good things, no matter who promotes them, no matter who gives in to them, no matter who rationalizes them, no matter if these lies win elections, we at Standard of Liberty have decided we will go on publishing eternal truths. Of course it is up to each person to decide if truth is their cup of tea. All of you, reading us, can take it or leave it.

Timeless Truths, with capital Ts, are about reality and reason. They aren't invented by man and don't change. Some are obvious, some we must discover. A few examples: God is our Creator, we need air to breathe, human beings are male or female, only male and female can mate, we all sin, we all die, repentance through Christ is the only means whereby we can dwell with God again.

In a day when self, pleasure, popularity, and faux-compassion are worshiped above all, certain Timeless Truths are giving people discomfort. When they find themselves finally pushed into a corner, rather than endure such discomfort, inconvenience, sacrifice, even embarrassment, they convince themselves that they must compromise Truth to maintain the status quo. They then may proceed to play a little rationalizing word game in their minds until they regain their earthly equilibrium.

Whether we are personally involved in the fashionable conceits of our time or not, all must admit that it is much easier to shrug our shoulders at what's happening than take a stand. What does abandoning Truth look like? It looks like inconsistency, like softening, like winking at spiritual and physical dangers. It looks like being more concerned about being up with the times than caring about the welfare of immortal souls. It looks like gradually compromising eternal principles, like drifting into worldliness, like making huge concessions, like finally calling good evil and evil good, like Babylon. And in making concessions to the popular sins of the day we take up our own form of deadly sin, breaking that first great commandment.

We understand there are those who think that they can only help willfully sinning people by keeping them in the fold so they can influence them to return to truth and righteousness. This is like sinking the ship to save the ship. It makes no sense and does not work. Any influencing will more likely be done by the emboldened unrepentant sinners who, like wolves in sheeps' clothing, have been allowed to infiltrate the flock. Churches that no longer denounce willful sin, that include rather than excommunicate vocal apostates, are abandoning Truth. And what's a church without it?

If you take a look at human history and scripture, you see that nations, peoples, societies, and institutions come and go. It's inevitable. Especially for every individual, this life is pretty short. It's best to keep in mind that sooner or later we will leave it all behind, all the people, the places, and the things, all the wonderfulness and all the wickedness, all the struggles and sorrows, joys and pleasures. We can treasure our time here for every grain of learning we can glean while knowing there is something much better on the other side. We are free to choose that which leads to that something else, that Truth Eternal, over every earthly thing. And we can strive each day to make this choice, come what may, praying for the clarity and firmness of mind, the courage, the patience, and the faith we most certainly need.

Now, we realize these are hard words. The Truth is often hard and very inconvenient for us human beings. That's why Truth is also called the strait (difficult) and narrow. And as we said, all are free to take it and continually trust in the Lord, or leave it. That's the way it's all set up. There's nothing mystical or incomprehensible about it. It's a very clear cut, exciting time to be making this choice. Eternal Truth. Age-old lies. Which do you choose?

--Stephen & Janice Graham

Fearless and Famous Defense

by Drew Graham
Book Review of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Based on transcripts from post-war radio broadcasts, C.S. Lewis details and outlines the very most basic tenets of (non-denominational) Christian beliefs, with his usual wit and incredibly keen insight.

I have read this book once before, several years ago, and while for some reason I wasn't quite as enchanted with it this time, I still thought it was an absolute masterpiece. I don't usually read much non-fiction, but this is a book that everyone should read. Lewis has such a way with words and such a brilliant grasp on life and death and religion and philosophy, that sometimes I felt I could barely keep up, but I truly wanted to keep trying anyway. I love how he doesn't shy away from telling the absolute truths of Christianity, without the slightest apparent fear or apology for deterrents or detractors. Sin is sin (and, as he points out, ALL sin must be treated equally, even though some sins seem "bigger" or "worse" than others). His tone is personal and conversational while still being literary, and his writing is as beautiful as ever, making very effective use of analogy and simile to make his points. I take mild exception to a couple of doctrinal issues, but overall he's right on, this book serves its purpose perfectly, and Lewis does a great job of being ecumenical but also specific. He presents here his famous defense of Christ as Son of God and NOT just a moral mortal teacher, since if Jesus wasn't who He claimed He was, he would be either a liar or a lunatic, in which case He would be anything BUT a great moral teacher. He addresses the all-important issues of sin, repentance, the Atonement, our relationship with God and divine potential, and the heinous, insidious sin of pride, while also making perfectly logical, foolproof evidences of the existence of a Creator and a Savior. Coming from a former staunch atheist, what could be a better defense?

Some favorite passages:

"Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power-it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk."

"If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed."

I really wish I could memorize and internalize and understand every last word of this book, but I guess that's the beauty of repeated readings throughout life. Completely unafraid to speak and write the truth, C.S. Lewis's transcribed radio broadcasts on the basics of Christianity are definitely deserving of their widespread renown. I've read this before, but I'm glad I finally took the chance to read it again (though it was an adjustment to switch to non-fiction, which I usually don't read). Everyone should read it, irrespective of their position regarding Christianity.

Senator Portman, Homosexual Marriage,
and the Death of Principle

By: Kipling

Perhaps the biggest headline this morning was Senator Rob Portman's reversal of his position on homosexual marriage. In an editorial in The Columbus Dispatch - "Gay couples also deserve chance to get married" - the senator set forth his new found conviction.

I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married.

Portman attributed his reversal to the recent discovery that his son Will was gay.

Two years ago, my son Will, then a college freshmen, told my wife, Jane, and me that he is gay. He said he'd known for some time, and that his sexual orientation wasn't something he chose; it was simply a part of who he is. Jane and I were proud of him for his honesty and courage. We were surprised to learn he is gay but knew he was still the same person he'd always been. The only difference was that now we had a more complete picture of the son we love.

The discovery led Portman to reconsider his support for the Defense of Marriage Act. He stated that his previous opposition to "same-sex couples was rooted in my faith tradition that marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman." However, after wrestling with the issue, "it came down to the Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion and my belief that we are all children of God."

Since Senator Portman has cloaked his abandonment of principle and his newly formed support for homosexuality with an appeal to Christianity, the Bible, and the love of God, he deserves a response along those lines.

First, Christian opposition to homosexuality does not depend upon one's "faith tradition" but upon the unchanging Word of God. Scripture explicitly condemns homosexuality in Genesis 19 (Sodom and Gomorrah), Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:3-5, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, and Jude 7. Homosexuality is not a subject on which Scripture is silent. It is not up for debate or interpretation - the language is clear. What Senator Portman now supports is in direct defiance to the Word of God.

Second, Senator Portman argues that the "Bible's overarching themes of love and compassion" actually trumps what the Bible says.

Click here to read the rest of this Red State blog post on their website.

We posted this before but thought it bore repeating because it keeps coming up.

“How can anyone wish to deny a gay person love?” is a common question with a false premise. The fact is, no one is trying to deny anyone love. All are free to love whomever they want to. What God and traditional morality discourage is harmful out-of-bounds sexual lust and behavior.

The truth is, love is all around. And all kinds of love should be nonsexual, except one. In the one case when love does include sexuality, it should always be associated with mating, and therefore marriage. Two people of the same sex cannot mate, and therefore cannot marry in the true sense of the word.

This does not mean two people of the same sex cannot love each other. On the contrary, people of the same sex can share the greatest love and devotion. Fathers and sons, brothers, cousins, friends, compatriots, comrades in arms. History and literature are filled with such love. (See the 1960 film Spartacus for a great example in the scene when Spartacus proves his love for Antoninus.) As Jesus said, there is no greater love than a man laying down his life for a friend, which love he himself exemplified in the highest degree.

Most people don't realize that attitudes toward sex and sexuality are taught and learned. I myself didn't realize this until an expert pointed this out, and even then I had to think about it some. We don't realize that the basic premises of human sexuality are learned because the information is so ubiquitous and self-evident that we just absorb it from everyday life. We see underlying evidence of human mating all around us in every aspect of our existence. For example, we grow up knowing our parents had us, their parents had them, their parents had them, etc.

This is how it was explained to me: Think about if you lived on a desert island alone (not even any animals). What would you know about sex and sexuality? You might stumble upon pleasant sexual stimulation somehow but you would never know what it was for. You would never know that these pleasurable feelings could involve another person or love or reproduction. That's right, you wouldn't know how to reproduce because there was nothing to model it, or teach you about it, or even suggest it. Sex and reproduction would never occur to you. Think about it. You wouldn't know anything about sexual attraction at all, hetero or homo! Even if other equally clueless people appeared, the likelihood of stumbling upon how to reproduce would be very small.

Thank you for reading our blog. We appreciate your lengthy response and totally understand your point of view. We believe that, growing up in this Godless, sexually-permissive society, you may not be having a fair test (Hugh Nibley's idea, not ours). Even so, here are some pointers.

We did not make up our point of view. It is God's.

The scriptures clearly outline God's rules.

God's rules can be very hard to follow.

We all choose whether to love and obey God or something else.

Sin is pleasurable . . . for a time.

Everything a person knows about sex and sexuality is taught and learned.

Young people today are bombarded with wrong ideas about sex and sexuality.

Young people today are learning wrong notions.

Sexual feelings are just feelings and can go in all sorts of bad directions.

People like to say that Jesus was all about love. This is true, but not in the sense people usually mean it. Jesus was not all about just being neighborly and loyal to one another. He wasn't about heedless, selfish love, about winking at all sorts of wickedness in order to maintain the status quo and be popular and avoid offending anybody. No, he was about pure charity, selfless love, about doing the right thing and saying the right thing and wanting the right thing for everybody, come what may. Perhaps the closest modern vernacular is "tough love," the kind that points us to goodness, health, holiness and heaven.

The gospel is full of hard doctrines that are somehow being conveniently swept under the rug as the cunning, wicked world around us gains our approval and warps our understanding. The pure love of Christ is founded on truth and righteousness, and not just keeping the commandments outwardly but inwardly as well. How important is this thing called law, or in other words right and wrong, righteousness, justice, reality, God's rules?

2 Nephi 2:13 "And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness or happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore all things must have vanished away."

Apparently law is all important! But we are now afraid to stand for goodness and condemn sin, because that shows we aren't loving, right? Wrong. First, while we never condemn people (only God can do that), we are obligated to condemn bad opinions, false ideas, and all manner of wickedness, generally, in ourselves, and in those we have stewardship over. It is possible to love the sinner and condemn the sin because the person and the sin are two different entities. (Don't we continue to love ourselves even though we fall short?) People who are defending sin have embraced the ridiculous notion of combining the person and the sin together. That way, everybody gets hoodwinked into thinking we have to accept the sin or we are aren't loving the sinner and aren't being like Jesus. Again, Jesus condemns sin and calls us to repentance in no uncertain terms. Because he truly loves us.

The wicked don't like the truth about sin. The truth cuts them to the heart and they get angry and defensive and twist things around. They like their sins and don't want to give them up.

I know you're really strict about the homosexual-temptations-being-sinful-thing, but . . .

The above communication came to us recently, and we would like to point out that it is the Lord who is strict about these things because he cares about the welfare of our souls. Of course there is such a thing as a dirty mind! If homosexual behaviors are wrong, so are the temptations (desires, fantasies, thought patterns) toward those behaviors. If we believe homosexual behaviors to be sinful, how can we honestly say that to think about them is not sinful? That would mean that homosexual temptations are pure and holy, which is what unrepentant gays actually believe. You see, we are dealing with wickedness here.

But there is more. Gays are claiming their dirty mindedness as an identity, publicizing and celebrating it and demanding that all of us embrace this nonsense. This is the same as people proudly claiming, publicizing, and celebrating their adulterous temptations or their incestuous temptations or their temptations toward pedophilia as "who they are" and demanding special treatment and everybody's utmost respect.

The questions arises, why are supposedly religious people so defensive about having to repent of wrong, bad thoughts? We should all be doing this all the time. If we care about the immortal souls of men, whether or not temptations toward wickedness are acted upon with the physical body is not the point. In fact, as C. S. Lewis put it, sins of the flesh are mere fleabites in comparison to sins of the heart. We must continually cleanse the inner vessel if we are to be fit for the presence of God.

On the subject of whether or not certain thoughts, feelings, desires, intents, minds, hearts, appetites, passions, etc. can be wicked and sinful, there are countless scriptures, many of them commonly well-known. We'll let the Lord speak for himself:

Genesis 6:5 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Our article about the BSA's consideration of letting gays into their organization needs an addendum. All the hype is distorted to make the public think it's about inclusiveness of individuals, but it's not really about that at all. Homosexuals, or those with homosexual tendencies, have always been allowed in the Boy Scouts. No one was asked and no one told if they had those proclivities. It was an unspoken don't ask, don't tell thing. It was a secret sin. But of course they were and are there. Recently the BSA released more than 1,200 files detailing decades of homosexual sexual abuse of minors within their ranks. The LA Times reports a database of more than 5,000 such cases over the years.

Times have changed. Through cunning propaganda the public has changed its opinion of homosexuals from perverts to victims to heroes. An unspeakable vice has become a glorified virtue. Sex activism is aimed at youth. Children and teenagers are being indoctrinated and recruited into gayness. What the BSA is now deciding is not about whether or not to include homosexuals; that's a given. It's about whether or not to jump on the bandwagon and publicly welcome homosexuals, or in other words, whether or not to institutionalize homosexuality within its leadership and ranks.

confusion
over sexual feelings is quite common among teens but it is usually a
passing phase. The extensive National Health and Social Life Survey
across the USA in 1994 found that some 8 percent of sixteen year olds
identified as gay – but, significantly, the number halved within two
years to just over 4 percent, and halved again by age 25 so that only
2.8 percent still thought they were gay. What that means is that most
sexual confusion in adolescence – a full three-quarters in this study --
clears away if left to itself. - See more at:
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/is_the_gay_bullying_plague_in_our_schools_a_myth#sthash.D8rZlOdH.dpuf

confusion
over sexual feelings is quite common among teens but it is usually a
passing phase. The extensive National Health and Social Life Survey
across the USA in 1994 found that some 8 percent of sixteen year olds
identified as gay – but, significantly, the number halved within two
years to just over 4 percent, and halved again by age 25 so that only
2.8 percent still thought they were gay. What that means is that most
sexual confusion in adolescence – a full three-quarters in this study --
clears away if left to itself. - See more at:
http://www.mercatornet.com/articles/view/is_the_gay_bullying_plague_in_our_schools_a_myth#sthash.D8rZlOdH.dpuf

"Without the Scriptures, which have only Jesus Christ as their object, we know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in the nature of God and in our own nature.
--Blaise Pascal, Selections from The Thoughts,
114

The core of “homosexual behavior” is sexual attraction between people of the same sex. “Behavior” implies activity in fulfillment of that attraction . . . A partial fulfillment of sexual attraction . . . takes place when two gay men kiss each other. The . . . kiss of the same-sex couple cannot find an appropriate ultimate fulfillment in the sexual union of the marital relationship. Homosexual behavior, then, has no proper telos. Thus, the problem for our LGBQ community members trying to reconcile even the partial fulfillment of homosexual sexual desires with Christianity is that such reconciliation is, by any honest reading, biblically impossible (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).--Aaron Rider in the Houghton Star, 3/16/2015

Today the internet connects people with the same deviant tendencies, and once they come together they normalize the behavior and encourage each other. --
CSI Cyber, S1E2, 3/19/2015.

“[Satan] plans to destroy liberty and freedom -- economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods. There is no crime he would not commit, no debauchery he would not set up, no plague he would not send, no heart he would not break, no life he would not take, no soul he would not destroy. He comes as a thief in the night; he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Without their knowing it, the people are being urged down paths that lead only to destruction.” --Messages of the First Presidency, October 1942

“If you look at what not only Jesus said, but Paul the Apostle, about what things were going to be like in the End Times, people will be lovers of lies rather than the truth. They will elevate things that are called abominations in Scripture to normality.”--Cal Thomas in CNS News, 2015

“The legislation as it was unveiled today is based on a fundamental misconception that religious liberty can co-exist with unrestrained sexual liberty . . . As we’ve seen time and time again, something has to give under these mandates —and that ‘something’ is almost always religious freedom . . . I disagree with the assertion that this legislation will strike a balance between the special rights measures and religious liberty, those of us closest to the issue understand how impossible that is.”--Tony Perkins, Family Research Council, press release about proposed Utah SB296.

"the Bible describes Lesbian and Homosexual behavior [and desire/lust] as wicked, (see Genesis 18.16-19.29, Leviticus 20.13, and Romans 1.18-28). At the same time, the Bible instructs Christ’s followers to love their neighbors, even their enemies. The Church and the children of God share culpability on those occasions when they fail to love others, including those living a Lesbian or Homosexual life style . . . The Church and those who claim Christianity must . . . love as Christ demands. That does not equate to affirmation. The love that God demands for others does not require approval, support, and acceptance of another’s sinful lifestyle. In fact, true love attempts to correct those who deny and disobey the truths of God’s word . . . Those who practice a “gay” lifestyle must conform their lives to the dictates of the Bible. God calls these practices wicked and requires those at fault to forsake them.--Tom Hill, in Caffeinated Thoughts

"The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape and are compelled to live in sin. The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent and that they will not be forgiven. That cannot be true. They have forgotten the Atonement of Christ."--Boyk K Packer, April 2006

"The ad hominem attack is the oldest trick in the debater’s manual. When you can’t—or for whatever reason won’t—engage your opponent’s actual arguments, you try to discredit him personally. Perhaps you mock his accent, or point out that his pants are too short or that his socks don’t match. Or you try to smear him as a shady character or a hypocrite. Or you try to show that whatever he is saying, right or wrong, is ill-motivated—perhaps a matter of sheer political expediency. The shrewdest way to buttress an argument ad hominem is to create an appearance of engaging an opponent’s arguments while so distorting his view that a caricature takes the place of the original."--Robert P. George on Public Discourse, 2015

"Strike me if you will, but hear me; ridicule me, but still I will plead with you; cast me under your feet as though I were the offscouring of all things, but at any rate, I will not let you perish, if it be in my power to warn you of your danger."
--
Charles Spurgeon, Counsel for Christian Workers.

Joseph F. Smith on Forgiveness and the Limits of Tolerance:
Let your light so shine that honest men will see your good works and will be led to glorify your Father who is in heaven. Keep away from the haunts of sin. While you may entertain in your hearts a feeling of love, of charity; a merciful feeling toward sinners, those that transgress the laws of God you do not have to take them into your bosom, nor condescend to their conduct and habits . . . . These are my sentiments, and I believe that they are correct. If you can throw yourself in the way of the sinner to stop him in his downward course, and become an instrument in the hand of the Lord of turning him from the way of vice, iniquity, or crime, into the way of righteousness and uprightness, you are justified and that is demanded of you. If you can save a sinner from his wickedness, turn the wicked from the course of death that he is pursuing, to the way of life and salvation, you will save a soul from death, and you will have been an instrument in the hand of the Lord of turning the sinner unto righteousness, for which you will receive your reward. Some of our good Latter-day Saints have become so exceedingly "good" that they cannot tell the difference between a Saint of God, an honest man, and a son of Beelzebub, who has yielded himself absolutely to sin and wickedness. And they call that liberality, broadness of mind, exceeding love. I do not want to become so blinded with love for my enemies that I cannot discern between light and darkness, between truth and error, between good and evil; but I hope to live so that I shall have sufficient light in me to discern between error and truth, and to cast my lot on the side of truth and not on the side of error and darkness --Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, October 1907.

"[Our objective is] unlimited sexual gratification without the burden of unwanted children ... [Women must have the right] to live ... to love ... to be lazy ... to be an unmarried mother ... to create ... to destroy ... The marriage bed is the most degenerative influence in the social order ... The most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it."--Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, 1922

"If someone seeking your help says to you, 'I am a homosexual,' or, 'I am lesbian,' or, 'I am gay,' correct this miscasting. Heavenly Father does not speak of his children this way and neither should we. It is simply not true. To speak this way seeds a doubt and deceit about who we really are."--Bishop Keith B. McMullen,
2010 Evergreen Conference

“I could care less about same-sex marriage legalization except that it’s a constitutional right. That’s more what it was about that the actual people waiting to get married, to be honest. Marriage is just one step on our road to full equality.”--Derek Washington of Get Equal Nevada

I used to gauge my success in battling Satan by how long I’d gone without looking at porn. What I now realize is that porn is the wrong standard. Lust is the more accurate standard. Where is the lust in my life and what am I doing to keep it out of my brain and my behavior? If LDS men would get educated and then get honest, I think a lot more of them would realize that they’re in trouble because lust permeates their lives – even if they never look at computer porn.--Andrew Pipanne on rowboatandmarbles.org

all societies, as the price of survival, have to insist on a fairly high standard of sexual morality. --George Orwell

"Confusion over sexual feelings is quite common among teens but it is usually a passing phase. The extensive National Health and Social Life Survey across the USA in 1994 found that some 8 percent of sixteen year olds identified as gay – but, significantly, the number halved within two years to just over 4 percent, and halved again by age 25 so that only 2.8 percent still thought they were gay. What that means is that most sexual confusion in adolescence – a full three-quarters in this study -- clears away if left to itself."--Dr. David van Gend in Mercatornet.com

Undoubtedly and unfortunately, the normalization of deviancy and sexual anarchy is on the march. No longer can we afford to keep our heads buried in the sand regarding this egregious matter. We must without reserve expose this darkness of depravity to the light of God’s truth and serious public scrutiny. Our children are in serious peril if we don’t. --Dr. Michael Brown in Barb Wire

The common argument made by homosexual apologists to the aforementioned claims is that homosexuality and pedophilia are two completely different issues. Although it is obviously true that not all homosexual behavior is adult-child in nature, homosexual pedophilia still remains homosexuality (same sex activity) — no matter how some may try to spin it. --Dr. Michael Brown in Barb Wire

Once the sexual behavior of an individual breaks the containment of God’s absolute moral standard, there is no limit to the depths of depravity to which one may sink. Homosexuality is no doubt one step along this perverse slippery slope.--Dr. Michael Brown in Barb Wire

Sexuality does not fall into the category of morally-neutral personality characteristics. There are divinely communicated boundaries surrounding sexuality. Same sex desire is different . . . than the norm when it comes to sexual desire, but that isn’t a difference that should be celebrated; it is a difference that should be mourned.--Matt Moore on Barb Wire

Although not all marriages result in children, a married couple’s infertility is incidental, whereas a same-sex couple’s sterility is inherent. An infertile married couple can still comprehensively unite in a way that is procreative in nature, even if not in effect.--Clair Chretien in The Crimson White, 2013

"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. The real crisis we face today is a spiritual one; at root, it is a test of moral will and faith."--Ronald Reagan, 1983

We need elders and pastors with a vision to establish churches where a person struggling with same-sex attraction or even homosexual practices are lovingly warned, discipled, and given care. We need to continue to declare that homosexuality is not the unforgivable sin, but that repentance is called for.--Jason Helopoulos in The Gospel Coalition. 1/30/2014

The process of temptation is often as follows: 1st. A simple
evil thought. 2ndly. A strong imagination, or impression made on
the imagination, by the thing to which we are tempted. 3dly.
Delight in viewing it. 4thly. Consent of the will to perform it.
Thus lust is conceived, sin is finished, and death brought forth.
Jas 1:15. See also on Mt 4:1. A man may be tempted without
entering into the temptation: entering into it implies giving way,
closing in with, and embracing it.-- Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible

"We are playing within a reality that the left has constructed, and we have to step out of it."
--Mary Summerhays, Celebration of the Family, 1/24/2014, in a private email

“In the early stages of the campaign, the public should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex per se should be downplayed, and the issue of gay rights reduced, as far as possible, to an abstract social question.”
--Kirk, Marshall and Hunter Madsen, Ph.D., “Strategy: Persuasion, not invasion,” in After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s, Doubleday: New York, 1989, pg. 178.)

"I am just reading what was written over 2,000 years ago. Those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom. All I did was quote from the scriptures, but they just didn’t know it. Whether I said it, or they read it, what’s the difference? The sins are the same, humans haven’t changed. If you give them the bad news, they’ll start kicking and screaming. But you love them more than you fear them, so you tell them."--Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty patriarch, 2013

President Spencer W. Kimball reminded us that the prophets “constantly cry out against that which is intolerable in the sight of the Lord; against pollution of mind, body, and our surroundings; against vulgarity, stealing, lying, pride, and blasphemy; against fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and all other abuses of the sacred power to create; against murder and all that is like unto it; against all manner of desecration.” He continued: “That such things should be found even among the Saints to some degree is scarcely believable. … Sadly, however, we find that to be shown the way is not necessarily to walk in it.”--Elder Russell Ballard, Oct 1999 Conference

Enoch heard the earth mourn, saying, “Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because of the wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from the filthiness which is gone forth out of me?”--Moses 7:48

The homosexual rights movement was born out of a desire to be tolerated. Through the years it seems to have morphed into a crusade bent on forcing all of society, even conservative churches, to accept and celebrate homosexuality as natural, normal and healthy.--Kelly Boggs, in Baptist Recorder, 11/6/13

“All men can be chaste in body and in mind, if they truly desire it, and if they use the right means to be so. But it is a perfect mockery, to talk about our inherent and ungovernable passions, while we take every measure to deprave our instinctive propensities, and to excite our passions, and render them ungovernable and irresistible.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 76.

“The wisest and best men of every age, have manifested a deep interest in the welfare of youth; and have considered their intellectual, moral and physical education, character and condition, of the utmost importance to the individual, social and civil welfare of mankind.
The ancients were particularly attentive to these things. Their most enlightened and philanthropic sages and lawgivers regarded the proper education of youth, as the foundation of national prosperity and happiness. And they who have entertained the most correct views on this subject, have been fully aware, that the intellectual, moral and physical interests of man cannot be separated.
In every condition of the human race, the physical, as well as the moral state of the people, is of the highest consideration; but more especially in a country like ours, where the aggregate of individual character and individual will, constitutes the foundation and efficiency of all our civil and political institutions.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 23.

“He who in any manner endeavors to excite the sensual appetites, and arouse the unchaste passions of youth, is one of the most heinous offenders against the welfare of mankind; and, so far as effects are considered, it is not enough that he who meddles with this matter, means well. Irreparable mischief may be done, with the best intentions. There is no point of morality of more importance; and none that is intrinsically connected with so much difficulty. Through a fear of contaminating the minds of youth, it has long been considered the wisest measure to keep them in ignorance; and too generally, in order to sustain this measure, the natural inquisitiveness of the young mind has been met by misrepresentation and falsehood, on the part of those who would preserve their purity; while on the other hand, the basest of human cupidity has eagerly catered to the restless and prying curiosity, which has thus been exceedingly augmented. So that, while parents have been resting securely in the idea of the ignorance and purity of their children, these have been clandestinely drinking in the most corrupt and depraving knowledge from mercenary and polluted hands. I am fully convinced that mankind have erred in judgment, and in practice, on this point. Truth, properly inculcated, can never be injurious.”--Sylvester Graham, “A Lecture to Young Men on Chastity,” page 7.

“The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”
--Isaiah 3:9

"I don't think most people realize the aggressiveness and zero-sum game that really is part of the homosexual agenda. And it is very anti-liberty, very anti-religious, they literally would rather have you be shut down in your employment, in your business, in your licensing, in anything that you do if you do not accept the lifestyle. Just simply saying that you believe marriage is the union of one man and one woman is considered by some to be very hateful. It is incredible the extent to which there is an attempt to shut down and I think people need to be aware of the implications of the homosexual agenda."--Matt Staver, Right Wing Watch article, 2011

"As a practical matter, being an open homosexual is indistinguishable from proclaiming a belief that homosexual acts are morally innocent. After all, if one accepted the traditional view that such acts are morally impermissible, one would ordinarily keep one’s inclination to them to oneself."
--Carson Holloway, "The Boy Scouts' Doomed Compromise."

"You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it. You never know temptation until you try to fight it. Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.
--C.S. Lewis

Virtue is not a void or absence of a wrong, it is the presence of a right. Values or virtues are the light and the key to putting beauty into the rest of life.
--G.K Chesterton

When good men stand, evil men are restrained. When good men sit idly by, evil men prevail. If we fail to stand against evil, we have no one to blame but ourselves when evil triumphs. In the words of Plato, "The price of apathy is to be ruled by evil men."--Patriot Depot

"For Christians to accept some kind of validity with respect to homosexuality is for those same "Christians" to turn on the Lord Jesus — whose arms are open to welcome homosexuals out of their identity, out of their habits, out of their former life, and into His liberating Grace."--Michael Glatze, ex- homosexual, in Renew America, 5/12/2010

"No matter how I have been treated by individuals or groups within the Catholic Church, I always remember, like me, they must answer to Jesus for who they are and what they do."--Mark Abbott in Renew America, 8/5/2013

"It’s one thing . . . to acknowledge that some heaven-bound Christians may struggle with homosexual desires and even conduct, but an entirely different matter to condone and affirm a homosexual “orientation” as if God intended it to be one’s basis for self-identification."--Scott Lively, in WND article, 6/21/13

"The bestclue of knowing whom not to trust is, of all things, the pity play. The most reliable sign is, perversely, an appeal to our sympathy. It’s as obvious as the nose on our face and just as difficult to see without a mirror: The reason sociopaths—people with no conscience—desire pity above all else is that good people will let pathetic individuals get by with murder, so to speak. When we pity we are defenseless, and our emotional vulnerability is used against us by those who have no conscience. Sociopaths all get what they want, completely without shame. I am sure that the devil would want us to feel very sorry for him."
--From The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout

"Homosexuality . . . is defined as 'sexual desire for those of the same sex or sexual relations between individuals of the same sex'."
--Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, 1969, pg 78

"Homosexuality . . . this sin, like fornication, is overcomeable and forgivable, but again, only upon a deep and abiding repentance, which means total abandonment and complete transformation of thought and act."
--Spencer W. Kimball,
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 1982

"The Boy Scouts of America . . . chose to undermine the century old values of the Boy Scouts by giving into the pressures of a group of people who promote a perverted and sinful lifestyle. The Boy Scout leaders did the very thing that they taught millions of boys never to do – compromise their moral values.

I know that I can no longer endorse or recommend the Boy Scouts to anyone. In fact, I would encourage every parent to seek out other options, perhaps church groups for boys that would teach them some of the things that the Boy Scouts teach. If there aren’t any church programs in your area, find out what it would take to start one. If that’s not an option, then take the time that your sons would normally spend with the Boy Scouts and you spend it with them, teaching them and preparing them to be upright young men who value their relationship with you, with Jesus Christ and to never compromise their values. Those are the men our nation needs."--Dave Jolly, in Political Outcast, 5/25/13

"Until we recognize Homosexuality for what it really is, having compassion on those affected and offer help for them to overcome the problem — instead of refusing to admit there even is a problem and passing it off as just “another qurk” in morally normal and healthy sexuality — the “problem” will not go away.
Influence by association is real and powerful — especially for young impressionable youth."--Victor Johnson, commenter on Touchstone mag blog post, May 20, 2013

"Many, like me and my family, cannot continue to support an organization more concerned with the intolerant demands of activists while compromising the safety and security of the young people they swore to serve."--John Stremberger, founder of OnMyHonor

"May 23, 2013 was a sad day for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA), and another tragic day for an America in decline. The Scouts’ corporate-driven leaders in their folly put sexual morality up for a vote, and when it was all over, the Scouts as we once knew them – a God-fearing, wholesome organization – were finished. Now, truly “morally straight” organizations (to quote the Scout Oath) will rise up to compete with the corrupted BSA, and parents by the hundreds of thousands will migrate with their sons to these trustworthy alternatives.

This was a completely unnecessary capitulation. The equivocating Scouts somehow managed to snatch defeat from their hard-won victory in the Supreme Court in 2000 – which preserved the Scouts’ right to live by their own moral creed. Now they have eviscerated that creed, thus rewarding the very Homosexual Lobby that tormented the BSA since its high court triumph.

"If humans possess free will, they are able in many situations to consciously alter their thoughts, their feelings, and their behaviors to correspond with societal expectations or with personal values or religious rules."
--Warner, Bonds That Make Us Free, 2001).

"I have learned that with the help of Heavenly Father, the Lord, our Church leaders, inspired professionals, and caring friends and family members, same-gender attraction can be successfully resisted and overcome."--Becoming Whole Again, Ensign, Jan 1997

"[M]asturbation is a purely selfish act, and sexuality is, at its most sacred, an act of selflessness. For both men and women, learning selflessness, especially in sex, is a key to developing a long-lasting and mutually beneficial marriage."--Geoff B. in Millennial Star article

"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise."
--2 Cor 10:12

"If you are subject to this kind of temptation, it is essential that you break all connections with those who for one reason or another encourage it. Do not go back to places where you were tempted. Do not frequent those places where people with like attractions gather. This may require an adjustment socially, occupationally, even geographically.

If you are involved in a liaison, no matter how innocent it may appear, break it up right now. Some things tie you to this kind of temptation. Quit them. Avoid the very appearance of evil. This may be very painful if you are entangled in a relationship with deep emotional ties. Cut those ties and encourage the other person to do likewise. Get it done soon, and get it done completely and finally." --Boyd K. Packer, "To The One," 1978

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."-- Romans 12:2

"All sins are equal and bring judgment in His kingdom. All men sin and fall short of His glory. This the the reason for the Savior. Thank God for the remedy – my sinfulness in itself would be reason for God to give up on me, yet His mercy and faithfulness is everlasting."--David Lane in WND article.

"In essence, the [Boy Scout] resolution doesn't allow a gay adult to go camping with boys, but may put an "experienced" gay 17-year-old inside a tent with a 12-year-old boy on his first campout. This creates a perfect environment for sexual abuse within scouting."-AFA news release 4/19/2013

"Every appetite, desire, propensity and impulse of the natural man may be overcome by and through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
--Elder David A. Bednar, April 2013 Conference

"It is a heathy exercise to ask ourselves where we get the moral values that govern our lives. Is it each person for himself or do we acknowledge a higher power with authority to declare such?"
--Tim Wildmon, AFA Journal, April 2013

“A society that is careless about getting fathers and mothers together to raise their children in one loving family is causing enormous heartache. To legalize marriage between two people of the same sex would enshrine in the law the principle that mothers and fathers are interchangeable or irrelevant, and that marriage is essentially an institution about adults, not children; marriage would mean nothing more than giving adults recognition and benefits in their most significant relationship.”--Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco in LifeSiteNews article.

"A little reading of even 'religious' gays' unmasked writings on blogs and comments reveals emotional illness, narcissism, obsession with sex as a prioritized 'need,' and the erotic sexualization of even the most casual human interactions."
--SoL

Boy Scouts of America believes that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with the obligations in the Scout Oath and Scout Law to be morally straight and clean in thought, word, and deed. The conduct of youth members must be in compliance with the Scout Oath and Law, and membership in Boy Scouts of Americca is contingent upon the willingness to accept Scouting's values and beliefs. Most boys join Scouting when they are 10 or 11 years old. As they continue in the program, all Scouts are expected to take leadership positions. In the unlikely event that an older boy were to hold himself out as homosexual, he would not be able to continue in a youth leadership position.--Policy Statement on BSA website from 2004-2010

And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away."--2 Nephi 2:13

"For the things which some men esteem to be of great worth, both to the body and soul, others set at naught and trample under their feet. Yea, even the very God of Israel do men trample under their feet; I say, trample under their feet but I would speak in other words—they set him at naught, and hearken not to the voice of his counsels."--1 Nephi 19: 7

"The resurrection does not change one’s disposition nor does it alter one’s spiritual directions. One who was honorable and moral on earth but not valiant in the testimony of Jesus shall rise to a terrestrial glory. One who lived a telestial existence on earth–who lived after the ways of the world–shall reap what he sowed. Moroni taught that . . . "And then cometh the judgment of the Holy One upon them; and then cometh the time that he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; he that is happy shall be happy still; and he that is unhappy shall be unhappy still.” (Mormon 9:13-14)"–Joseph F McConkie/Robert L. Millett, Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, 2Ne9:16

Soi-disant (swäd-zä) Adj. - as claimed by and for yourself often without justification. (re: one who claims a gay identity for themselves.)--The Free Dictionary

"The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine—all of their doctrine . . . We need not solicit persecution, but neither should we remain silent in the presence of overwhelming evils, for this makes cowards of men . . . [F]alse educational ideas are prevalent in the world, and we have not entirely escaped them among teachers in our own system. There are a few teachers within the Church who while courting apostasy still want to remain members in the Church, for being members makes them more effective in misleading the Saints. But their day of judgment is coming, and when it does come, for some of them it would have been better, as the Savior said, that a millstone had been put around their necks and they had drowned in the depths of the sea (Matt. 18:6), than to have led away any of the youth of the Church . . . [S]ome members of his Church will fall away. There has been individual apostasy in the past, it is going on now, and there will be an even increasing amount in the future. While we cannot save all the flock from being deceived, we should, without compromising our doctrine, strive to save as many as we can . . . [I]f your friends or associates encourage base thoughts, then you had best leave them . . . Think clean thoughts. Those who think clean thoughts do not do dirty deeds. You are not only responsible before God for your acts but also for controlling your thoughts. So live that you would not blush with shame if your thoughts and acts could be flashed on a screen in your church. The old adage is still true that you sow thoughts and you reap acts, you sow acts and you reap habits, you sow habits and you reap a character, and your character determines your eternal destiny. "As a man thinketh, so is he" (see Prov. 23:7) . . . Pray. There is no temptation placed before you which you cannot shun."
--Elder Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Address, October 1964

There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity. But the third subject mentioned-personal purity, is perhaps of greater importance than either of the other two.
--Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 312

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair."
--C.S. Lewis

"Once darkened, a society loses its capacity to distinguish between right and wrong and the will to declare that some things are wrong per se. Without the lamp our world finds itself desperately building temporary defenses, drawing new lines, forever falling back, unwilling to confront. A society which permits anything will evenutally lose everything."
--Neal A. Maxwell, Deny Yourself of All Ungodliness, Ensign 1995

"I have never met a man who made it from youth to age 45 as a celibate gay Mormon fully active in the Church." --MOHOHAWAII

“There is a line of demarcation well defined between the Lord’s territory and the devil’s territory. If you will stay on the Lord’s side of the line you will be under his influence and will have no desire to do wrong; but if you cross to the devil’s side of that line one inch you are in the tempter’s power and if he is successful, you will not be able to think or even reason properly because you will have lost the Spirit of the Lord.”--George A. Smith

While from man’s perspective, what’s going on here is the work of God, what really is going on here is God preparing his worker. God is always more concerned about the worker than He is about the work. While we focus our attention on the ministry, God is always focusing his attention on the minister. We always are enamored by what a man does. God is excited about what a man is. For god know that if a man is what he ought to be, what he does will be right.--Dr David Jeremiah

"I may be wrong in thinking that the normalisation of homosexuality, which may bring benefits to some, imposes a large social cost, by downgrading the institution of the nuclear family. This is not the place to argue the point. But it is surely not a crime to think in that way? The fast and loose accusation of ‘homophobia’, which is one of those ‘thought crimes’ for which accusation and guilt are not clearly distinguished, and for which prosecutor and judge are always one and the same, is a serious threat to freedom of speech about an issue that is of pressing public concern."
--Roger Scruton

Matt Staver warned that the homosexual-marriage movement is not about “tolerance.”

“This is not about what two people want to do in the privacy of their own home. This is an ideological clash of unprecedented proportions. There will be one winner, and there will be one loser.…"

“I’m not optimistic that it’s going to tone down any time soon. But what I am saying is that we need to be vigilant, and Liberty Counsel is ready to not only educate but also to defend the line. This is a battle that we cannot lose … This is a battle that is absolutely intent on silencing biblical viewpoints.”--Matt Staver, Liberty Counsel

Civilized society is based on judgments. Laws, values & virtues are all judgments. Even Jesus said it's ok to judge, just make sure they are righteous judgments (John 7:24, Luke 12:57).
--wisdom of the ages

When Jesus said to love one another, even to love our enemies and do good to those who curse us, he didn’t mean for us to march in step with the decadent worldly parade; he meant for us to offer the Truth that can save souls.--Janice Barrett Graham

"So-called “homophobia” is not responsible for the fact that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-in-five “gay” men and adolescents in major cities across America have been infected – through bad behavior – with HIV/AIDS. Sin is responsible. In almost every category – disease, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide – those who call themselves “gay” live and die with consequences that have nothing gay, in the true sense of the word, about them."
--Matt Barber, in WorldNetDaily

"[T]ruth is hate to those who hate truth."
--Matt Barber, in WorldNetDaily

We do not help each other in the fight for holiness when we allow for righteousness to look increasingly strange and sin to look increasingly normal.
--Kevin DeYoung

"Youth receive a mixed and confusing message under comprehensive sex education: Public authorities tell me no, but then go out of their way to show me how."

"Recruiting children? You bet we are. We want educators to teach future generations of children to accept queer sexuality. In fact, our very future depends on it. Why would we . . . teach kids about the historical contributions of famous queers unless we wanted to deliberately educate children to accept queer sexuality as normal?"--Daniel Villarreal, Queerty, May, 2011

"Could it be possible that many of us, like a cork in a stream, have been swept off our destiny line by false concepts, perilous ways, and doctrines of devils? By whom are we enticed? Have we accepted the easy way and veered off from the strait and narrow way to the easy and comfortable way, and the broad way that leads to sorrowful ends? Matt 7:13-14"--Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, November, 1974

"May we repeat: Sex perversions of men and women can never replenish the earth, and are definitely sin without excuse, and rationalizations are very weak: God will not tolerate it."--Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, November, 1974

"It is sad that decent people are thrown into a filthy area of mental and spiritual polution. We call upon all of our people to do all in their power to offset this ugly revolution."--Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, November, 1974

"As members of the Church we are engaged in a mighty conflict. We are at war. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to fight against Lucifer and all that is lustful and carnal and evil in the world. We have sworn to fight alongside our friends and against our enemies, and we must not be confused in distinguishing friends from foes."--Bruce R. McConkie, November, 1974 Ensign.

“A man with homosexual attractions will usually maintain them unless he consciously surrenders them. [. . .] [S]urrender is letting go. It is choosing to release specific obstacles–whatever is holding you back and hurting you. It is a deliberate mental, emotional, and spiritual attitude of giving away these obstacles to G-d . . . in a spirit of humble trust in the wisdom, strength and goodness of the Divine Power.”-- People Can Change website

To engage in sinful thoughts is to sin with "the noblest portion of the self."
--from Light in the Closet, Arthur Goldberg, 2008

[T]he challenges of living in sexual propriety apply to every Jew, not just homosexuals, and to every person, not just Jews. For a man or woman burdened with an "irresistible" attraction for the opposite sex -- or with any other variety of sexual brokenness -- it is no easier to avoid self indulgence than for a gay man or woman to shun same-sex contacts and fantasies. Certainly no Jew, no person, has the right or the authority to amend the Torah to allow for his or her own (or other persons') special sexual "needs." To believe the contrary might be soothing, but it is plainly delusional.
--Arthur Goldberg, Light in the Closet, 2008

There will be many who will criticize you for what you do while they stand by and do nothing.
--Woodrow Kroll, Back to the Bible Radio, 10/20/2011

We have been too unwilling for too long to talk about what is right and what is wrong . . . .
We have too often avoided saying what needs to be said - about everything from
marriage to welfare to common courtesy . . . . Children without fathers . . . . Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control.--David Cameron, UK Prime Minister

While we recognize that not everyone wishes to worship, and that religious diversity can be valuable, we also think that the existence of a large group of less educated Americans that is increasingly disconnected from religious institutions is troubling for our society.--
Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins Univ.

Now that we have made the sexual impulse a "right," this fatal principle, as C.S. Lewis calls it, "must sooner or later seep through our whole lives. We thus advance toward a society in which not only each man but every impulse in each man claims carte blanche. And then . . . our civilization will have died at heart and will . . . be swept away."

The Lord said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). One of the most difficult tests of all is when you have to choose between pleasing God or pleasing someone you love or respect — particularly a family member....Our love of the Lord will govern the claims for our affection, the
demands on our time, the interests we pursue, and the order of our
priorities....We bless our fellowmen the most when we put the first commandment first.
--Ezra Taft BensonThe Great Commandment -- Love the Lord

"Is it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to declare, whether they will be freemen or slaves? It is an important question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than any thing in this life. The salvation of our souls is interested in the event: for wherever tyranny is established, Immorality of every kind comes in like a torrent. It is in the Interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the people's liberties practice every art to poison their morals. How greatly then does it concern us, at all events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny."
--Samuel AdamsThe Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams

“The truth does not care if it is questioned; the truth can always stand up to questioning. I have found that only the false fights back, retaliates, and attacks. The truth might defend itself, though it does not really need to. But liars trying to defend their lies get mean and dirty.”
-- Larry Winget Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get A Life

I fear that, as conditions worsen, many will react to the failures of too much government by calling for even more government. Then there will be more and more lifeboats launched because fewer and fewer citizens know how to swim. Unlike some pendulums, political pendulums do not swing back automatically; they must be pushed. History is full of instances when people have waited in vain for pendulums to swing back.
--Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Insights from My Life (1976)

[The gay lifestyle] is anathema to our country, our morality, and the debauchery of our young people. . . We are dealing with the equivalent of a moral takeover of the country that has as its bedrock a belief in G-d and His promise for humanity. They don't want civil rights! What they desire is quasi Gay/Lesbian hegemony, where a huge "bookburning," reminiscent of the Nazis, will purge any remnants of the "Christian, White, mainstream America" that has given ALL AMERICANS the most profound scope of freedom, liberty, and justice that Mankind has yet to experience.
--Rabbi Nachum Shifrin,We Are All Mormons. 11/2008

When the majority of the people become like sheep, who will tolerate intolerance rather than make a fuss, then there is no limit to how far any group will go.
--Thomas Sowell, 11-20-2008

“I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion. And I think if you believe in historic Christianity, you have to confront the fact. For that matter, if you believe in the historic version of Islam or the historic version of Judaism, you have to confront the reality that these secular extremists are determined to impose on you acceptance of a series of values that are antithetical, they're the opposite of what you're taught in Sunday school. I think when the left, when the radicals lost the vote in California, they are determined to impose their will on this country no matter what the popular opinion, no matter what the law of the land. You've watched them, for example, in Massachusetts, basically drive the Catholic Church out of running adoption services, drive Catholic hospitals out of offering any services, because [the radicals] impose secular rules that are fundamentally … sinful from the standpoint of the church.”
--Newt Gingrich, 11-14-2008 on The O'Reilly Factor

I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now.
--Elder Boyd K. Packer, Feb 2004 talk to CES educators

. . . tolerance, without limit, could lead to spineless permissiveness . . . Real love for the sinner may compel courageous confrontation—not acquiescence! Real love does not support self-destructing behavior.
--Elder Russell M. Nelson in April 1994 General Conference

. . . if the normalizers have their way, and it becomes criminal to give any social or legal preference to reproductively productive patterns of marriage and family, why would any rational person give their allegiance to such a community, such a legal system, such a state or nation?
-Orson Scott Card in Mormon Life, Deseret News

“The word 'marriage' has long been understood across many cultures as the cooperative union of male and female with a vital interest in the next generation,”
--Jenny Tyree, associate marriage analyst for Focus on the Family Action. 7/15/08

When observing the “modern liberal in verbal action”… ask a cogent relevant question … they almost always will:
01. Refuse to answer “yes or no”
02. Get louder and talk faster or mock the questioner
03. Point at other bad behavior to excuse their bad behavior (this is in vogue now)
04. Topic-shift (often after being presented data on the current topic)
05. Start the “victim” litany
06. Talk or write non-stop to prevent further inquiry (a string of fact less assertions)
07. Feign anger or surprise that ‘the questioner would stoop so low, etc”
08. Claim it’s personal or under investigation so they can’t comment
09. State firmly that “you don’t understand” (aka you are stupid)
10. Present a distracting joke to trivialize the subject
--Doug Schexnayder in Conservative Crawfish 3/21/08

To some, telling the truth doesn't matter. Consider the following statement made by a prominent member of the American Psychological Association and published by the Harvard University Press: "...it may be that for now, the safest way to advocate for lesbian/gay/bisexual rights is to keep propagating a deterministic model: sexual minorities are born that way and can never be otherwise. If this is an easier route to acceptance (which may in fact be the case), is it really so bad that it is inaccurate?"
--From Article on APA's new pamphlet on homosexuality by Dr. A. Dean Byrd

As a physician, it is my duty to assess behaviors for their impact on health and wellbeing. When something is beneficial, such as exercise, good nutrition, or adequate sleep, it is my duty to recommend it. Likewise, when something is harmful, such as smoking, overeating, alcohol or drug abuse, and homosexual sex, it is my duty to discourage it.
--John Diggs, CRC

Perhaps the British playwright, self-identified secularist atheist Pat Condell, is indeed correct: "Political correctness is like a drug that we just can't stop injecting, even though we know it's going to kill us."
--From Article on APA's new pamphlet on homosexuality by Dr. A. Dean Byrd

Paul McHugh, a former director of the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, notes that the transgendered patients he has come to know were no happier after sex-change surgery than before. He writes in "The Mind Has Mountains": "I concluded that to provide a surgical alteration to the body of these unfortunate people was to collaborate with a mental disorder rather than to treat it."I used to approve of homosexuality, but changed my mind when I got more information, not less. The truth is, homosexuality itself is hateful. It hates the natural human body and spirit, and opposes truth at every level. It fights gender integrity as marvelously designed by God. It "uglifies" a person, preventing the full blossom of natual beauty as a young male or female. it it a dead-end affection, fruitless, never creating new life. All who enter it will be plagued by troubled spirits, anxious thoughts, unsatisfied desires, and insecurity, including separation from God and hostility and suspicion toward those who try to warn them. It is rebellion at a deep level against who you really are. It is a poison in any human life and it is poison in schools.
--Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2008

A passage [Winston Churchill] penned as the First World War was about to end reads: "In war, resolution. In defeat, defiance. In victory, magnanimity. In peace, good will." This is a sentiment which all those in public life should learn by heart. It encapsulates the lessons of history better than entire books.
--Paul Johnson, in Imprimis, 2008

[Certain school] programs assume that homosexuality as a behavior is something worthy of respect and defense. It's not. Let's get it out of kids' lives.
--Linda Harvey, Mission America, 2008

If this teaching [of the Church against homosexuality] is no longer applicable, why should young people believe that anything we say is morally binding?
--Dale O'Leary, author of One Man, One Woman

My fear was that if hate crime legislation comes in, many Christians, and many churches, will stop preaching the full Gospel of Jesus Christ. And sure enough, that's what happened.
--Canadian Minister Tristan Emmanuel

Homosexuality and Christianity are clearly incompatible. Thankfully, homosexuals can leave the lifestyle behind, with God’s help. Struggling with sinful temptations is one thing — we all do — but embracing them as an “identity” or inherent nature is quite another.
--Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

Why are so many people of faith riddled with guilt in opposing a sin-based movement that threatens everybody’s religious and First Amendment freedoms? Perhaps it’s because many Christians, far from “hating gays,” as the trendy accusation goes, are intimidated by the liberal media and no longer agree with their Creator that homosexual acts are an egregiously sexual sin.
--Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH

A particularly heavy focus on the sin of homosexuality by “Christians as a whole” is not at all gratuitous. There is such emphasis, not because we intentionally and specifically chose to target this particular sin, but rather, because strident moral relativists demand that, in contrast to the other sins you address, the sin of homosexuality not only be “tolerated,” but celebrated. That’s what the euphemistic slogan, “celebrate diversity,” supposes.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA

The very firm response by defenders of Biblical truth to the homosexual lobby’s relentless assault on our nation’s Judeo-Christian tradition is indeed a defensive reaction, not an act of aggression. [M]ost of us would prefer not to even imagine [homosexual behavior], much less struggle to defend against its wholesale promotion. But regrettably, our hand has been forced.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA

[W]e find ourselves — back against the ropes — in a fight we did not pick, struggling in a culture war we did not ask for. It’s a clash of worldviews . . . Make no mistake; the sin of homosexuality is the bunker-buster bomb in this war against morality.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA

Love . . . does not mean that we indulge sinful behavior and call it good. True love does not facilitate immorality, it takes it to task.
--J. Matt Barber, CWFA

"You have to understand that the motivation of the gay community is validation. They want to be approved. They want people to say, 'It's okay that you're gay' . . .
--Luke Montgomery, homosexual activist

"Being queer is mort than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so . . . Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process, transforming the very fabric of society . . . We must keep our eyes on the goal . . . of radically reordering society's views of reality."
--Paula Ettlebrick, Intl. Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Comm.

Until you have challenged the prevailing wisdom you have no idea how nasty people can be.
--Timothy Ball

Every aspect of life and freedom as we know it will be diluted by the liberal agenda of the homosexual movement.
--Carol Soelberg, 1/2007

"A culture obsessed with technology will come to value personal convenience above almost all else, and ours does."
--Robert Bork

" We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. . . . Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
--John Adams

"Make no mistake, two irreconcilable agendas are at war. Where do you stand in this great divide?"
--Dr. Ronnie D. Floyd

“We may safely study and learn about the theories and philosophies of man, but if they contradict the plan of redemption . . . do not buy into them as truth. If you do, you may. . . have your testimony repossessed. Your respect for moral agency may go with it and you will end up with nothing.” -- Boyd K. Packer, 1996

"Given the number and cultural strength of those who now serve the Devil, what should those who would serve God and man do? The challenges are easy to identify: men and women must preserve the holiness of their homes, must reminisce with each other about battles won and lost, and must be a humanizing link to earlier generations."
--David Beresford

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
--William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

Limits [of normal matrimony] were well understood by our Victorian ancestors. They understood the emasculating effect of profligacy. A libertine is not a strong man: he is an effete slave to his passions, often taking advantage of [others].
--David Beresford

"Now, more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature."
--President James A. Garfield

"The Church and her members have a moral responsibility to engage the culture and political world in which we live. . . The right to redefine marriage is not [an] authentic human right." -Wisconsin Catholic Bishop Robert Morlino

There are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within, and the authorities need to awaken to the fact that the people should be warned unceasingly against them. As I see these, they are flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity. But the third subject mentioned--personal purity, is perhaps of greater importance than either of the other two.
-- LDS President Joseph F. Smith

C. S. Lewis put it, "Wherever any precept of traditional morality is simply challenged [by the world] to produce its credentials, as though the burden of proof lay on it, we [the world] have taken the wrong position."

Cal Thomas has said, “That a president of the United States would feel compelled, for whatever reason, to make a public statement that marriage should be reserved for men and women is a leading indicator of the moral state of the union. . . . He may as well have stated the equally obvious that the sun rises in the east.”

"Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictate of reason and justice without constraint."
--Alexander Hamilton

No idea has been more destructive of happiness, no philosophy has produced more sorrow, more heartbreak and mischief; no idea has done more to destroy the family than the idea that we are not the offspring of God, only advanced animals, compelled to yield to every carnal urge.
--Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, May 1992

"Take courage to renew that battle which . . . [your] forefathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and Christian values may not be extinguished from the land."
--Abraham Lincoln

“My message to the homosexual is: We love you. Come and struggle with us against sin. Don’t give in to it.”
-- Rev. Andrew Aquino

Joe Dallas reminds us that confrontation is not enough to change a heart. “The heart, having been hardened through deception or rebellion or both, has to be softened. And that is the work of God alone. Ours is simply to speak the truth.”

Said C. S. Lewis, "Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal." And "Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness."

"It is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. Religion and virtue are the only foundations . . . of republicanism and of all free governments."
--John Adams

“Certainly if any person ought to interfere in political matters, it should be those whose minds and judgments are influenced by correct principles – religious as well as political. Otherwise those persons professing religion would have to be governed by those who make no professions; be subject to their rule, have the law and word of God trampled under foot, and become as wicked as Sodom. The cause of humanity, the cause of justice, the cause of freedom, the cause of patriotism, and the cause of God requires us to use our endeavors to put in righteous rulers.”
--LDS President John Taylor, 1808-1887

‘Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften toward him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo! opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame.”
--James Allen, c. 1904

"When [my wife and I] were married there were no such phrases in common use such as 'women’s Lib' and 'politically correct'. There was no premarital agreement whereby I was required to do half of the housework. We instinctively knew what we wanted – a home and a family in which I would be the breadwinner and she would be the homemaker. When children came along they were cherished and welcomed. We are quite different yet have meshed well in providing a good home. There were always family meals together and lots of family activities. One of the greatest tributes we have received and one we value very highly is our children telling us that they had a happy childhood. I have been blessed to have a mate who has filled her traditional role well and continues to be a source of friendship, support, and happiness to me and all the extended family."
--W. Scott Barrett (1925-)

"All healthy men, ancient and modern, know there is a certain fury in sex that we cannot afford to inflame, and that a certain mystery and awe must ever surround it if we are to remain sane."
--G.K Chesterton (1874-1936)

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest expression every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
-- Martin Luther (1483-1546)

“There are a dozen views about everything until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one.”
--C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, 1946

“Even supposing that each of us can, if he wishes, effectively avert the eye and stop the ear (which, in truth, we cannot), what is commonly read and seen and heard and done intrudes upon us all, want it or not.”
--Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren, Paris Adult Theater I v. Slaton, 1973

“The tide of evil flows. Today it has become a veritable flood. Most of us, living somewhat sheltered lives, have little idea of the vast dimensions of it. Billions of dollars are involved for those who pour out pornography, for those who peddle lasciviousness, for those who deal in perversion, in sex and violence. God give us the strength, the wisdom, the faith, the courage as citizens to stand in opposition to these and to let our voices be heard in defense of those virtues which, when practiced in the past, made men and nations strong, and which, when neglected, brought them to decay.”
--Gordon B. Hinckley,
“In Opposition to Evil,”
Ensign, Sept. 2004

“It is far more important that we react effectively against immorality and evil in our communities which threatens the morals and the very lives of our children.”
--N. Eldon Tanner,
Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, Deseret Book, 1973

“If we reflect on the dreadful consequences of sodomy to the state, and on the extent to which this abominable vice may be secretly carried on and spread; we cannot, on the principles of sound policy, consider the punishment as too severe. For if it once begins to prevail, not only will boys be easily corrupted by adults, but also by other boys, nor will it ever cease; more especially as it must thus soon lose all its shamefulness and infamy and become fashionable and the national taste; and then . . . national weakness, for which all remedies are ineffectual, most inevitably follow; not perhaps in the first generation, but certainly in the course of the third or fourth . . . To these evils may be added yet another, viz. that the constitutions of those men who submit to this degradation are, if not always, yet very often, totally destroyed, though in a different way from what is the result of whoredom. Whoever, therefore, wishes to ruin a nation, has only to get this vice introduced; for it is extremely difficult to extirpate it where it has once taken root because it can be propagated with much secrecy . . . and when we perceive that it has once got a footing in any country, however powerful and flourishing, we may venture as politicians to predict that the foundation of its future decline is laid and that after some hundred years it will no longer be the same . . . powerful country it is at the present.” --Sir John David Michaelis, 1814

“The number one issue for the family today is the homosexual activist agenda.”
--Dr. James Dobson, 2002

“I believe this grab for children by the sexually confused adults of the Gay Elite represents the most serious problem facing our culture today.”
-- Tammy Bruce, The Death of Right and Wrong, 2003

“It is a wicked, wicked world in which we live and in which our children must find their way. Challenges of pornography, gender confusion, immorality, child abuse, drug addiction, and all the rest are everywhere. There is no way to escape from their influence. Some are led by curiosity into temptation, then in experimentation, and some become trapped in addiction. They lose hope. The adversary harvests his crop and binds them down. Satan is the deceiver, the destroyer, but his is a temporary victory. The angels of the devil convince some that they are born to a life from which they cannot escape and are compelled to live in sin. The most wicked of lies is that they cannot change and repent and that they will not be forgiven. That cannot be true. They have forgotten the Atonement of Christ.”
--Boyd K. Packer, May 2006

A health text for high school freshmen in Massachusetts suggests, “Testing your ability to function sexually and give pleasure to another person may be less threatening in your early teens with people of your own sex. . . . You may come to the conclusion that growing up means rejecting the values of your parents.”
--from an Alliance Defense Fund publication, 2006

“The term tolerance has now become code for acceptance of homosexual behavior and rejection of Judeo-Christian sexual ethics.”
--Alan Sears, 2006

“Pornography [addiction] has become a huge, huge issue . . . most often [for] males from the ages of 11 on up . . . [spanning] all cultures, religions, and classes. With the advent of the Internet . . . the average age of initially viewing pornography is 5 years old . . . ‘We tell people that if you don’t get this problem taken care of, it’ll kill you.’”
--Lexie Kite quoting Dr. Matthew Hedelius, The Herald Journal, 2006

“There comes a time when the general defilement of a society becomes so great that the rising generation is put under undue pressure and cannot be said to have a fair choice between the way of light and the way of darkness. When such a point is reached, the cup of iniquity is full, and the established order that has passed the point of no return and neither can nor will change its ways must be removed physically and forcibly if necessary from the earth, whether by war, plague, famine, or upheavals of nature.” --Hugh Nibley, 1985